The Perfect Storm
by Willow70
Summary: When one of Sonny's enemies comes at him by way of Kristina, Sam is pulled into a viscous trade in order to save her sister and Lulu. Jason, Sonny and many others will stop at nothing to bring them home safe.
1. The Email

**The Perfect Storm**

**Summary: **_When one of Sonny's enemies comes at him by way of Kristina, Sam is pulled into a viscous trade in order to save her sister and Lulu. Jason and Sonny end up at odds but work together as they both do everything in their power to save Sam, Lulu and Kristina before they're gone forever. Set amidst a back drop of an international underworld embroiled in a war with Interpol and traffickers they must risk everything for their very lives and those of the ones that they love._

**A/N and Warnings:** _I don't normally do warnings, but this story deals with some mature themes and will therefore carry a T+ rating as outlined by the rating guidelines. It's not for children. There will not be anything graphic or gory but I still strongly caution that the themes are for teens or above. _

Check out my profile page for an address to the promo video And Reviews are greatly appreciated.

**Character from GH in this fic:** **Mains:** _Sam_ _McCall and Jason Morgan._ **Supporting:** _Kristina, Sonny, Lucky, Dante, Lulu, Ethan and Spinelli. Original characters will abound but only in a supporting capacity to aide moving the story along._

**The E-mail**

In a perfect world there were always second chances, there was forgiveness and reconciliation, there was hope and undying love. In a perfect world the law favored justice and the innocent were never punished, they always got their guy or gal and the wrongs of the world were never left unpunished. In a perfect world betrayal was a myth left for villains in novels and prime-time television. In a perfect world Jason Morgan wouldn't be set up with a sniper rifle on the rooftop of the Hotel Madero in Buenos Aires because one of Sonny's former employees had turned on him in favor of his newest rival Fernando Castillo. In a perfect world, one squeeze of a trigger wouldn't end a life.

This wasn't a perfect world.

Jason confirmed the shot through his scope, watching as Bartholomew Danes fell dead near a scantly populated back alley. It would take a few moments for someone to find him. Jason took the time to deftly disassemble his equipment and pack, frequently checking his watch to make sure that he was staying to his time-line for completion of the assassination.

This was supposed to be a short trip but it seemed that Sonny kept finding things that he needed taken care of by a trusted friend. Trust had been in short supply as of late with Castillo looking for any way to undermine Sonny's business so that he could make a move on his territory. At first they thought that the guy would get a taste of their strength and back off, but he had proven himself as an adversary with staying power. It was time to start taking him down a notch, one informant at a time.

Seven days of traipsing around South America later and Jason was looking forward to a few quiet days at home with Sam. He just hoped that she wasn't knee deep in a case. Jason breathed a sigh as he looked out over the back-lit sky line, bristling with stars of the fluorescent variety. Phone calls, text messages, and e-mail were a poor substitute for Sam's warm body passionately enraptured beside him. Jason collected his sniper case and turned his cell back on with the touch of a button all on the move towards the closest roof access door. It wasn't just missing Sam resting next to him during the midnight hours that was weighing on him. He was missing the little idiosyncrasies of their day to day. It had occurred to him more than once that the level of his desire to be home with her was an indicator of just how much in love he'd fallen. A hint of a smile played at the corner of his lips as he slipped into the stairwell and made his way into a nearby air duct en route to his room out of the watchful eye of the hallway security cams.

He had a long crawl to let his thoughts continue to flourish over their relationship, those very thoughts having turned to proposal on and on over the last few months. He'd floundered a few times but it was times like now that had sealed his decision. He had it planned out, not the date, but the avenue of romance. It was a tough sale for an amateur to see either of them as romantics, but life couldn't always be seen through a hail of bullets. They had to balance their lives with the softer side. More to the point, he loved to see her face light up when he managed to pull off a miracle of awe.

Jason eased halfway out of the vent into his room and angled the gun case to make a soft landing on the King bed set at the main focus of the junior suite. Once the gun was safely deposited he worked on doing the same for himself. Once on the floor he was quick to make packing a priority. He was in the clear for the shot, but he didn't relish the idea of staying near the scene of the crime any longer than he had to. Five minutes later, on the move for the door with bags in hand, his cell phone rang, the soft cascade of tones letting him know that it was Sam calling.

Jason let the bags drop to the floor and gave a cursory pause weighing the risk of staying a moment longer to answer, but the decision had really already been made. He flipped the phone open and brought it to his ear a waver of an instinctual grimace proving the only show that he had a wary feeling that all was not well.

"Yeah," his soft greeting covered Sam's pants of movement only marginally and Jason narrowed his eyes turning where he stood as if that was going to give him some visual access to his girlfriend. "Sam, what's wrong?"

"I'm forwarding an e-mail." Sam sounded like she was running. "Kristina and Lulu have been kidnapped." There was a short pause and then the sound of a car door slamming, the engine roaring to life. "Fasten your seat belt."

"Fair Samantha need not ask." Came a muffled reply from nearby leaving Jason to conclude that Spinelli was in the car with her. Before Jason could jump back into the conversation Sam picked it back up.

"I'm on my way to Sonny's," There was another pause as the sound of tires squealing against pavement greeted his ears. "It looks like they just wanted Kristina to stick it to Sonny, but Lulu was there and they took her as a bonus." There was a quiver to Sam's voice betraying the underlying emotion that she was trying to hide. "The e-mail explains it more."

Jason felt fear and dread encircle his heart as he licked at his lips, fingers dancing over the ridge of his chin in an effort to reign in the nerves that were fraying raw. He wasn't just worried about Kristina and Lulu. Sam needed to take a breath and calm down, hell she shouldn't be behind the wheel. He didn't get anything out though before she was continuing further. "We've don't have a lot of time, Jason."

"Until what..." He couldn't caution her about driving with a statement like that hanging between them.

"Until we lose any chance of getting them back. Sonny just found out that Castillo's side payroll is moving live pleasure dolls. Spinelli is trying to find the sender of the original e-mail but right now we've got 3 minutes of video of Kristina and Lulu being drugged and manhandled into some sort of van. He's going to sell them, Jason." Her voice hitched as she fought to catch enough breath to go on.

"I'm fifteen minutes from the airport. I'll be on a plane within the hour. Sam, stay with Sonny. He'll protect you. I don't want this guy coming after you too." Jason felt his heart take a nose dive straight into his stomach. "I'll look at the pictures and the e-mail on the plane and call Sonny on the way." He could hear the tears in her breath shattering his heart with each and every desperate exhale. "We'll get them back, Sam."

There was long pause and Jason fought to shoulder the phone and get his bags in hand once more so that he could move and talk. He was waiting on the elevator by the time she spoke again.

"I know we will, but I can't just sit by and wait. I've got a plan." Sam choked on the last word and he heard Spinelli let out a gasp from the passenger seat followed by another round of squealing tires. As if everything else that Sam had just explained to him wasn't enough to insight panic, whatever plan she came up with out of blind desperation for her sister and Lulu and his inability to be there to talk her out of it, to make her see reason, that had his heart beating triple time.

"What's the plan?" He couldn't try and talk her out of it en route to the airport if he didn't know what it was.

"Sonny turned one of Castillo's guys last week."

"Right." Jason hailed a cab and set his bags on the seat with him while holding up his passport as means of letting the guy know where he was headed.

"He's not high enough to find out where they are, but he does get some scouting duties. He can take me to the recruiter for the new merchandise. I can go undercover with a GPS chip stashed on my person and lead the cavalry to Kristina and Lulu." and there it was. Jason felt like he was going to be sick.

"No. Absolutely not, Sam."

"I wasn't asking, Jason. This could be our best bet to find them."

"Sonny won't agree to that" and by God Jason would make sure of that once he got him on the phone, because as desperate as Sam was to find her sister, Sonny was that much more desperate to find his daughter and he might entertain insanity as an option. "Sam, there's got to be a better way and we'll find it."

"We might not have time to. It's already been 2 hours and we're just finding out that they're gone." There was typing in the distance letting Jason know what Spinelli was up to, but he couldn't really focus past Sam's quivering voice, the hang of tears heavy over the airways. "Those bastards have had my sister for four hours, Jason."

"Sam I know this is hard, but we'll find them and bring them back and we can do that without you sacrificing yourself." There was a pleading to his voice that he couldn't hide, a prayer in his soul that she would listen to him. "Please just wait and work the other angles until I can get there to help."

"I'm not making any promises, Jason, but I'll wait as long as I can." The resolution in her tone was anything but comforting.

"I'll take what I can get, but Sam please, wait for me. I don't want to lose you." His unwavering voice bore the breath of his soul and she paused, hesitating, the fight gone from her tone when she spoke next.

"I'll try." it still wasn't a promise, but it would have to do. "I love you, Jason."

"I love you too."

The conversation was over but the trip into hell was just beginning. Jason peered down into the face of his phone menuing his way to his e-mail and waited impatiently for it to load, dividing his attention between keeping tabs on the route to the airport and the small screen. Finally it opened. It began with a message in text, reading :

_It's come to my attention that perhaps you believe that I am not capable of carryout my _

_threats because of some false sense of security offered by your impenetrable operation. Allow me to clear up that misconception. _

Below the unsigned note was an attachment for a video file. Jason tabbed to the link and clicked through getting another test of patience as he waited for it to load. They were pulling into the airport parking lot by the time it did. Jason paused the feed and paid the cab driver, wishing he had more free hands as he gathered his bags and headed towards the private hangers. He shouldered the first bag and set the other down to turn the video back on and then was on the move once more attention shifting from watching where he was walking to the screen. Sonny's pilot noticed him coming and Jason shouted for him to get the plane ready.

A scream drew his attention back to the screen as Kristina's terror filled eyes hitched enough of his resolve to draw his steps a reprieve for one moment. For one heartbeat she no longer looked like the blossoming seventeen year old on the cusp of adulthood, she was that frightened child he'd protected for so many years. Anger at the bastard that would go after her in order to prove a point to Sonny gripped his heart tight hedged in by a growing fear that Sam had seen this video and wouldn't even entertain waiting for him. He renewed his course for the plane with need to interject reason into the group as they carried out whatever plan they would use to get them all back.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dante Falconeri squinted in the dimly lit apartment, making his way to the door while adjusting his sweat pants around his waist. He'd woken from a dead sleep, coming off a weeks worth of midnight stakeouts, when someone pounded the hell out of his front door. The fervor in attempt to get his attention drew fear from his sleeping stupor that something was wrong. The pounding came again and Dante got out a quick, "I'm coming," giving him a second to eye his gun on the table near the door.

He narrowed his eyes to see Lucky's outline past the door's small window and frowned wondering if they were trying to call him back in for another round of look no see. God all he needed was a night off. Lulu had even been understanding about his decline to attend the Cerebral Palsy benefit in the park earlier that evening. Dante let out a deep sigh and unlocked the door, pulling it open with the intent of asking Lucky as nicely as he could what was going on. He didn't get the chance, though. Lucky pushed passed him clearly in a state bordering on panic.

"Lulu's been kidnapped." The words came out in a rush and Dante felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck, jaw dropping open as he advanced on Lucky.

"What do you mean, kidnapped?" Lulu had been fine earlier in the day when she'd come to see him. There was no sort of imminent threat from anywhere.

"They won't let me anywhere near the case. What little I did get from Ethan and the Corinthos' was that it's a case of wrong place, wrong time for Lulu. It was a play for Kristina. Ethan and Lulu just happened to be there. They got the jump on Ethan and Lulu and Kristina are gone. It wasn't even reported until an hour ago. Ethan was stuffed in his car trunk out cold. One of the parking attendants at the park just happened to hear him pounding on it when he was doing the last walk through." Dante listened, the color draining from his features as his terror filled eyes met Lucky's.

"Does Ethan remember anything?" Dante hurried to the bedroom, grabbing a shirt from the foot of his bed and pulling it on over his head as he looked back to Lucky for an answer. "And what did my Dad say?"

"What do you think he said? He said he's handling it." Dante got an over shirt from the closet and pulled it on over the gray t-shirt then found a pair of jeans and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked so that he could hear Lucky. "And Ethan just knows that there was two of them and a black van. He didn't see the plates."

Dante was in shock, trying to push through the nausea as it began to sink in that his little sister and girlfriend had both been abducted. If they wouldn't let Lucky in on the case then he was out too. And that left him in a precarious position to be drawn to his father's side. He was surprised that he hadn't gotten a call yet. "Are they asking for ransom?" Dante came out of the bathroom hunting socks and shoes in a fit to get out of there and on to finding answers.

"I don't know, but Sonny knows something more than he's told the police so far." Lucky explained. "We can start there."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Samantha McCall stepped out into the foyer, having just changed into some little to nothing black club number, her over abundance of jewelry clacking together as she made her way into Sonny's office. Sonny was pacing the floor, shouting into his cell phone, behind the desk where Spinelli was set up, typing like a mad mad. Sonny paused giving her a once over in a mostly professional and appreciative fashion before he turned back to the heated conversation.

Spinelli had paled from over hearing so many promises of violence flying around him while he was trying to work. "Did you get anything?" Sam asked as Sonny disappeared into a neighboring room in order to finish the conversation while allowing them room to speak as well.

"I regret to inform you that the search for The Goddess in Training and The Blonde One has run into many hurdles. The Sinister One has a hireling who I am remiss to say seems to rival the Jackals superb abilities. It will take more time." Spinelli looked guilty and as regretful as he sounded and Sam's gaze softened even as her heart was splitting in two, just thinking about what her sister and Lulu might have to be enduring.

"I'm sure Castillo's computer guy has nothing on you, Spinelli." Sam reassured him and then swallowed tightly before she went on. She'd wavered a moment when Jason had asked her to wait for him, but even with the private plane and limited stop overs for refueling they were looking at nearly 10 hours of flight time. She couldn't wait that long. Kristina and Lulu might not have that long. "But we'll go to plan B while you prove me right. How's it look?" Sam angled her bare foot so that Spinelli could see the jeweled adornments to each of her toe nails. Of those jewels, only one mattered, it was chip in disguise, dreamed up by some techno wizard and heavily paid for as a perk of their P.I. business.

"F...fashionable." Spinelli seemed lost for words a moment as he caught a glimpse at the rest of her getup. Any other lingering glances were lost though as a loud tone let him know that Jason was trying to start a video chat.

Sam wrinkled her nose and pulled in her bottom lip between her teeth knowing that this wasn't going to be pleasant. In a flash Jason set against a back drop of Sonny's plane popped up on the screen. There was a pause when she saw relief in his relaxing features until he got a better look at the dress she was wearing.

"I was just telling The Goddess that I have many hurdles to overcome in order to find The Sinister One's location." He explained to Jason just as Sonny walked back into the room and tossed his cell phone onto the nearby couch as if it was a useless piece of trash, his frustration and desperation bleeding through.

Sonny came around so that Jason could see him and picked up where Spinelli left off in letting Jason know what was going on so far.

"I've got people on the van and on tracking Castillo's movements over the last week. We'll have a last known in about half an hour. Sam said she sent you the E-mail. Did you get it?" There was edge to Sonny's voice that betrayed just how hard he was trying to hold it together.

"I got it." Jason gave a half nod and leaned forward. "What have you got on his business? Routes? Whose involved?What about the informant? Have the police gotten any leads? Did anyone see anything when they were abducted?"

"I'll have to fill you in in an hour, right now I've got to meet with the informant. Spinelli and Sam can give you what they know so far." Sonny caught a nod from a frustrated Jason before he collected his coat and made a hasty exit. Jason then looked to the other two expectantly.

"Ethan was there, but so far no other witnesses have come forward. " Sam picked up right off, trying to delay the inevitable. "We just found out that Castillo is even dabbling in Human trafficking so the whose and whats are coming in slow, but Sonny's leaning hard on his network. I don't think that Sonny's talked to Dante yet, but we should know the police's stance soon." It was the lack of information that they had that prompted her to tell him that she couldn't wait. "So we're going ahead with my plan, Jason..." The words were scarcely out of her mouth when cut her off in protest.

"Sam, this is a bad idea."

"I can do this, and Sonny'll know where I am every step of the way, Jason. I'll be fine."

"Knowing where you are and what's going on are two very different things. They're going to drug you, handle you, and lock you in a room or a cell or a box, God only knows where for hours or even days before this is over. Sam, too much can go wrong." With tears in her eyes the revelation of what could be done to her only strengthened her resolve, because everything that he said was already happening to her sister and Lulu.

"They've already done all of that to Kristina and Lulu Jason, I'll take the risk." She watched as his gaze softened but could still tell that he was against the idea. "Everybody here is working every angle they can, but this is another way in. I can do this."

"You shouldn't have to..."

Jason's message and movement suddenly went silent and still as the screen froze, the connection temporarily severed, but it was a blessing in disguise in a way for Sam. She ran her fingers over the screen with a tender whisper of "I love you," before she made her way around the desk and looked back over her shoulder at Spinelli. "When you get him back, tell him I said it...and that I had to do this. I'm going to go ahead and meet up with Sonny and the informant," Spinelli gave a nod, his own eyes teary with emotion over the exchange and the worry he felt for those that were missing.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

**A/N: **And thus ends Chapter one. I hope that someone gets a kick out of it and reviews really help with my muses motivation :) Enjoy. I'll try and update about once a week if there is interest and life permitting.


	2. The Informant

The Perfect Storm

**A/N:** Well my Beta( bless her she fixed so much to begin with :P) missed my attempt to change a few things gone awry in the first chapter that I wanted to clear up. Kristina and Lulu were kidnapped two hours previous, not four. My time line is a little sensitive so I wanted that resolved in case any one was confused.

**Reviews: **It really means a great deal to me that people take the time to review, feedback is always appreciated. I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of interest and hope I live up to the stories potential. Thanks so much for the interest and the kinds words – it helps feed the muse :P

Bellagh6969 – I always thought Jason tried to interject reason into the insanity that surrounds him half the time. I think he saves people from their crazy schemes as much as he does in physically protecting them XD. Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the story and the vid.

Shaun Buck– I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for updates. Mid terms seem to work my muse into a frenzy so that helps :P

So again – thanks guys :) and hope you enjoy!

**The Informant**

"No, no one knows where Dad is..." Lucky tucked his cell phone between his shoulder and ear on the move as Dante talked their way through Sonny's security with a plea to wait for his return. "No no no no, look I'll keep you up to date, Nickolas, you're not going to do Lulu any good rushing back from Paris, just finish your business and then head home." Lucky met Dante's eyes as they walked through the front door and towards Sonny's office. "Yeah, I'll call as soon as I know something else." He promised before hanging up and tucking the phone into his pocket.

"His last meeting is tomorrow afternoon, he'll be flying back then." Lucky explained to Dante. "Did Mac tell you anything?" Dante had called into the station on they way to Sonny's hoping that he could get access to the information that Lucky wasn't aloud to ask for.

"They're setting up at Alexis's, getting ready to intercept a call for ransom. They think that since the target was Kristina that the ransom demands will either be made to Alexis or to Sonny. Alexis and Molly are there waiting for word." Dante reached for the office knob and started to turn it but paused as he heard muffled yet excitable talking beyond the door. He and Lucky met each others wary gaze as they'd been told that Sonny was out.

It wasn't the sort of conversation that seemed to warrant getting gun in hand, but he was still suspiciously curious. Dante cracked the door, slowly opening it so as not to alarm whoever lay beyond. He and Lucky eased in to get a view inside and both furrowed their brows.

"I could have no sooner stopped the Fair Samantha than I could have stopped a raging Tsunami with it's frothy sights on the distant shore." Spinelli was standing up behind the computer desk talking to his laptop in a frantic manner.

"You can still try to talk her out of it, Spinelli." Came Jason's response masked by the electronic digitalization of his voice over the tiny speakers. Spinelli realized he had visitors at that moment and froze seeing Dante and Lucky standing in the doorway. "What is it?" Jason's voice brimmed with alarm as he saw Spinelli's reaction. Spinelli turned the laptop so that Jason could see Dante and Lucky without a word of further explanation.

"We're here to talk to Sonny when he gets back." Lucky explained their presence. "It's not official police business."

"They won't let you work on the case, will they?" Jason let out an exasperated breath.

"No," Dante moved forward so that he could see Jason in the window on the screen better, so it felt more like they were having this conversation. Dante wrung his hands together unconsciously, a nervous tell. "But Mac's not completely stonewalling me."

"So you're here as concerned brothers?" Jason needed some clarification as to what capacity Dante and Lucky were operating in so that he could gauge whether their efforts were going to help or hurt the current cause to get the girls back.

"We're here looking for answers." Lucky's voice took on agitation, betraying a growing anger blossoming inside him at the situation, helplessness having eaten him for an hour now.

"We don't have many of those." Jason replied evenly.

"Come on Sonny's got to know something about his daughter," Lucky took a step forward. "Is this a retaliation for something? Because so help me if he gets Lulu killed..."

Spinelli raced around the other side of the desk as the hostility level began to rise, getting between the computer and Lucky as though he were protecting cyber Jason, when in reality he was protecting his laptop from any probable retaliation out of desperation. "Rest assured that Mr. Sir and the fair Sam are procuring the means to find Fair Kristina and The Blond One." Spinelli put both hands up in defense of his computer.

Dante furrowed his brows but kept quiet taking all this in as Lucky seemed to be keying up for a scene. He was prepared to stop him, but he wanted to know what was going on as much as Detective Spencer, so he let him go for the moment.

Lucky peered around Spinelli to get a look at Jason, clearly not wanting to talk to the PC mobs star hacker. "What's he mean?" He motioned to Spinelli waiting for clarification. Jason had closed his eyes and was rubbing his hand over his brows in frustration, but looked up to see most of Spinelli's torso and a blurry blob out of focus of the camera where Lucky should have been.

"He means that we may have a lead. Sonny got an E-mail. We're operating under the assumption that it's from Fernando Castillo. He's been trying to make a move on Sonny for a few weeks now, this is his version of escalating the situation." Jason left out the part about what the probably plan was for the girls.

"Escalating the situation? He's got my sister!" Lucky widened his eyes in disbelief. Lulu was caught in the middle of one of Sonny's rivalries which meant ransom was relative. These guys could be after anything or just trying to make a point. Either way, setting up a command at Alexis's was going to do little to no good. "What's this guy want?"

"He hasn't made any demands." Jason replied calmly as Spinelli moved a little to the left to give Lucky a little better access to the laptop, without taking himself all the way out of his way so that he could intercept if need be.

"I thought you said that he sent an E-mail." Dante spoke up finally, trying to interject a calmer tone into the conversation.

"The E-mail served to facilitate a desire to prove worth and capability on the part of the Sinister One as well as providing proof of the abduction via a small video clip." Spinelli spun around and with a few short keystrokes had the E-mail appearing beside Jason's video chat window. Lucky and Dante moved in to get a better look.

Jason looked away from the screen as the sound of the video of the abduction flooded the mic. Closing his eyes didn't help, for his mind reminded him that he'd already seen it by helping him relive it all over again. Kristina's screams were muffled by nearby fireworks before she'd been rendered unconscious. The focus of the camera was on Kristina struggling in a masked man's arms her screams quelled by the hand clamped over her mouth. Once she was unconscious and in the van the focus shifted revealing that Lulu had been forced to record it at gunpoint, her tear stained cheeks bearing witness to the terror clinging to her heart. It wrapped up with Lulu being pulled roughly into the back of the van, kicking and screaming then went black.

Jason finally looked back up to find Lucky and Dante a few shades whiter, their horror wrenched eyes unable to look away from the screen. "That was a couple of hours ago, according to Sam. She said that Ethan reported it, but I'm sure you know that."

When Lucky spoke next he nearly growled out the words, obviously pushed to the edge of his capacity for self control. "You said that Sonny and Sam were working on something, what's that?"

"They went to try and find out more about the situation and..." Jason trailed off having to take a breath before he could go on. "They might have a plan to find them."

"Wait a minute, you make it sound like this guy doesn't want to negotiate their release, what do you think he plans to do with them?" Dante was growing more alarmed by the moment as well.

Spinelli hitched in a breath in wide eyed worry at sharing what they knew and looked back to meet Jason's slightly time delayed gaze before the both of them looked to Lucky and Dante, Spinelli swallowing the lump in his throat, while Jason simply looked drearily into the camera and said. "We think he plans to sell them. Castillo's known to be involved in human trafficking."

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

"11:47" Sam read the time from her cell and swallowed the bile that has risen in the back of throat from the very thought of her sister and Lulu in the sort of trouble they were in, the sort of trouble she would soon be in. Sonny angled his head to give her a once over, reading her delicate features as if sizing her up despite their years of friendship.

"Don't over sell it, he just needs to know that you can play the part." He advised her as they both looked out the tinted car window to a packed club across the street from the crowded parking lot they'd pulled into. "I won't be far, but this will go a lot smoother if you bring him to me."

"I know." Sam gave him a watery smile that was meant to be reassuring, but came across more forced than she liked and she could see a flash of worry spark in Sonny's eyes, more worrisome than the absolute panic that he was barely keeping under wraps. She cleared her throat and gathered her tattered resolve, borrowing strength from reserves that she didn't know she had in order to shove down her worry so that she could embrace her facade. When she met Sonny's eyes next his worry about her handling herself abated as she stated with wowing smile. "It'll be a piece of cake."

Sonny gave her a small pat on the knee and nod towards the door as the go ahead. Sam climbed out of the car and got ready for the show. Running a con had always been easier when she'd been on her own. There were less unpredictable variables. Back then she didn't have to worry about the innocence that got hurt in the crossfire, the pressure of failure posed it's icy threat to her alone. Now so much more rested on her ability to give this performance.

The plan was relatively simple. Scouts looked for a certain element to point in the direction of the recruiter. First, product, beauty always came in second best to availability, but it was still a factor. Second, alienation, the less people that came looking for the girl, the better. Third, gullibility, the girl had to be lured somewhere off the beaten path in order to be taken in privacy. Witnesses caused problems. This was her dress rehearsal and audition all at once. She wanted to sell it to the scout, Sonny's informant, before he even knew who she was. By doing so, they eliminated any doubts on the informants part that she could handle the recruiter. It also helped to a sure the man that his betrayal of Castillo wouldn't be given away by someone who was not competent to run a con.

She had 13 minutes until Sonny was supposed to meet with him to convince him.

Sam made her way past the dwindling late night crowd and the bouncers. The re verb radiated through her chest before she was even halfway through the door, the pounding of electronic beats keeping time with her heart. There was a haze of blue leaving the dimly lit thrashing of bodies lost in a shadow land dance floor.

Jared Austin, Sonny's informant against Castillo's organization sat at the bar, leaning against the counter in favor of a view of the dance floor. Sam picked him out in the breadth of a second. If she were being herself she would have steered clear, but then she wasn't, she was playing the perfect victim. Sam took a shallow breath and refreshed her smile as she made her way in his direction, diverting her attention from him to the bartender behind him.

She made a point to trip just as she was about to reach the step up for the stools and brushed against him, catching herself on the chair next to him. "Sorry," She called over the music and quickly brushed him off as she pulled herself onto the stool.

"No harm done, are you alright?" She had his attention. Now she just had to keep it.

"Oh, yeah, it's just these heels." She giggled. "I'm not used to wearing them. I didn't hurt you did I?" She pulled a small book out of her clutch and started to flip through it as if scanning a foreign language book.

"Nah, I'll live." He returned her smile softly. "What's that?" He narrowed his eyes curiously.

"Oh, this?" She held it up. It was a tiny little book, all about mixed drinks. "This is my guide to all the wonders of alcohol."

"You don't strike me as a girl who would need something like that." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess I put off partying a little too long. I've been away at college. Me and my friend Stace decided to celebrate skidding by on our finals for the semester, although I haven't seen her nearly this entire trip. She didn't tell me that her boyfriend was coming." She sighed, but tried to still look mostly upbeat. "No matter, I can party without them." Sam flashed another smile, meeting his eyes timidly, trying to let tendrils of insecurity dip into her features as she quickly looked away.

"So college...and no time for partying?" He motioned to the book she was still idly flipping through.

"Yeah, I just haven't had much time. I'm working full time, it's just me, so I didn't have anyone to help with the tuition. That's why I have to make up for it now." She smirked and looked up as the bartender finally made it back down to their end. "Oh, um, let's see, I'll have a..." She floundered nervously.

"Do you mind if I make a suggestion?" Jared offered warming to her instantly, she assumed because he now knew she was worthy of reeling in. She was away from home, not well versed in the world, and wouldn't have any one to look for her. Sam's smile grew at the realization.

"I don't mind at all," a few minutes later amidst a half-hearted flirty conversation she changed her mind. She was just readying to let him in on the con, to take him to Sonny when her vision began to dance. Sam blinked through the growing dizziness and adjusted herself on the stool, nearly slipping from the slick rounded top. Jared placed a steadying hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him in confusion.

Whatever he'd slipped in her drink worked fast and while Sam knew that inevitably the end result of her con was supposed to land her in harms way she hadn't anticipated him moving so quickly. The short time before his meeting with Sonny should have bought her the time to meet up with Sonny once more before they arranged the REAL con. That could only mean one thing. The recruiter had to be on sight.

"You look like you might need a little air." Jared's concern was the charade now. Sam weighed her options, while she could still make a rational decision. She could go with Jared now and let him turn her over to some other guy who would eventually take her to where ever it was that they held the girls before they sold them or she could reveal herself as Sonny's associate, sober off whatever this guy had given her and arrange for them to do this all over again. The chip on her person could be activated remotely and as soon as Sonny realized what was going on he could have Spinelli start tracking her.

"I think you might be right," Sam gave a soft giggle, no need to break character now. It was getting hard to think, to string those precious thoughts together. God, she didn't want to do this all over again. Sam rose to her feet, or at least tried to. Jared was there to catch her. "Must have gone straight to my head."

"I'm sure you'll feel better soon." Sam knew better. She fought to squelch the rising panic as her agility took another hit and she had to rely on Jared's arms to keep her upright. Reality began to blur around the edges and soon she was no longer under any of her own control. The blue hue haze of the dance floor was replaced with red brick and leather clad arms which gave way to muffled voices and rough touches before the blackness of a trunk. She was hanging onto consciousness by her fingernails, but soon even that grip couldn't be maintained.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Sonny knew something was wrong the minute that Jared Austin walked out of the club alone to meet him. Still he took the car around to pick him up once he was a fair distance from the club and they were sure that no one was watching. "Where's Sam?" was the first words out of Sonny's mouth upon Jared sinking into the seat next to him.

Jared met his eyes in confusion. "I uh..." Sonny quickly pulled out his cell phone and showed him a picture of her. Kristina had programmed his phone so that if the call came from his contacts list a picture of the caller showed up. "Son of a..."

"I'm going to stop this well articulated parley and ask again." Sonny interrupted him. "I sent Sam in there to show you that she could be trusted to play the part of one of the girls that you stalk and she was supposed to bring you back out here with her. Now where is she?"

"I handed her to Buckly, Castillo's recruiter." Jared replied in a rush looking ready to jump out of his skin or the car should his life suddenly become in danger.

"Did you now? Was that her idea or yours?" Sonny started dialing Spinelli as soon as he heard the news. "And why in the hell didn't you tell me that Buckly was going to be at the club we were schedule to meet at?"

"I didn't know he was going to be." Jared licked at his lips nervously weighing his fate as Sonny nodded to the driver to go. "It was my idea, she never told me she was running a con."

"If we hadn't already planned to get her inside the lion's den, we would have a problem." Sonny replied evenly. "As it stands, you still have a chance to redeem yourself for betraying a women that way." Sonny raised a finger to silence any interruptions as Spinelli picked up the phone. "Spinelli, start tracking Sam. She should be en route to where they're holding Krissy and Lulu. Right, let me know where she stops." Sonny ended the call and looked to Jared the calm facade that he'd harbored a moment ago shattered. "I respect that you abhor what Castillo is about. That you're stuck in an organization that subjugates the weak and innocent. I respect you staying in said organization as means to gather information for me. If you want to keep my respect then you tell me everything that you know about my daughters abduction."

Jared's eyes widened as realization about what this was all about finally hit him. It was quite obvious that he hadn't known about it. "I haven't heard anything. It's been all business as usual."

"Well, you're going to find out everything that you can and get back to me. Right now I want a name, a lead to go on. Who would Castillo send to kidnap a seventeen year old girl?" Sonny fought to get the last words out his lips curling in disgust at the very thought.

"Could have been Buckly or Chavez. Although I heard Buckly say that Castillo was bringing in another recruiter to do an in town job. He was pissed that Castillo didn't ask him to do it."

Sonny gave a soft nod of understanding. "Alright, where do I find Buckly and Chavez? And I want you to find out everything that you can about the other guy."

"Buckly hangs out at a biker bar outside of town, Harvey's, til about 2 when work is over. Chavez has a gambling problem. I think he's at the track a lot."

"Alright, keep your head down and when you know anything you call me." Sonny motioned for the driver to stop. "When we start busting heads, Castillo's going to know that he's got a problem. You need to be careful." Sonny cautioned him. "I can't put men on you without blowing the whole thing, but you'll have my protection as soon as I have my daughter back." He promised.

"I understand. I'll call you soon." Jared promised respectfully before he vacated the car and ducked into the shadows to make his way.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

"_No matter how many times that you told me you wanted leave... No matter how many breaths that you took you still couldn't breathe... No matter how many nights that you'd lie wide awake to the sound of the poison rain... Where did you go?... Where did you go?... Where did you go?"_

In the heart of the night lost in transit, the lull of the road settled between them. Snubbed tears and drugged blood subdued them. 30 Seconds to Mars "Hurricane" dulled out the other sounds leaving Lulu and Kristina in a cold state of shock. They lay facing each other as best they could, folded in on themselves to fit inside the large dog crates that they were locked inside. Lulu stretched to get her fingers through the bars, fighting a wave of pain that stabbed through her knuckles from the hard ribbed metal. Kristina was trying to quiet her tears and had stretched to the limits of her own reach towards Lulu. Their fingers met in a stroke of comfort and despite the threat of violence should they speak, Lulu whispered. "It's going to be alright, Krissy."

Thankfully the music covered her words.

"_As days go by...The night's on fire...Tell me would you kill to save a life?...Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?...Crash crash Burn... let it all burn...This hurricane's chasing us all underground."_

Sonny's office had become a command of sorts, not incomparable to the one that the Port Charles police had set up at Alexis's. Spinelli's rapid fire typing set the pulse of the action. Dante Falconeri fearing the fate of his sister and his love was pacing the floor his voice mingling with Lucky Spencer's the both of them enraptured in their own quests for information via their cell phone so that they could bring their loved one's home. Jason's video feed was lost for the moment, leaving them awaiting Sonny's return as Spinelli tracked the Fair Samantha's whereabouts.

"_No matter how many deaths that I die I will never forget...No matter how many lives that I live I will never regret...There is a fire inside of the heart and a riot about to explode into flames...Where is your God?...Where is your God?...Where is your God?"_

Sleep was far away dream lost to Jason, the minutes of the flight twittering by at a snails pace. It was maddening, especially when the last of his conversation with Spinelli had encompassed a phone call with Sonny betraying that Sam was already in enemy hands. He was alternating the flight time by pacing, researching Castillo's operation, fielding calls from Spinelli and Sonny for updates. And despite every attempt to occupy his every moment, to keep from feeling the pain of his heart slowly chipping off a piece at a time, to keep his racing thoughts from entertaining madness, despite every attempt he still found himself on the edge of desperation's ravine praying for a life line.

"_Do you really want...Do you really want me...Do you really want me dead or alive...To torture for my sins...Do you really want...Do you really want me...Do you really want me dead or alive...To live a lie"_

Harvey's parking lot had been a steamy seed of debauchery and crime since the place had opened 15 years previous and yet in the depths of the night, through a mingling of moon light and street lights, the lot had never seen the seeds of a crime lord's wrath. Sonny Corinthos climbed out of the car buttoning his suite jacket with gloved fingers, awaiting Milo and Max to exit as well, flanking him on either side. Buckly, was the goal. For Sonny had vowed that by the days end tomorrow, his little girl would be home.

The trio walked across the crowded parking lot with conviction, their demeanor demanding respect from the hardened and rugged men that dotted the lot. They didn't want a fight, they just wanted Buckly.

"_Tell me would you kill to save a life..."_


	3. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

**The Perfect Storm**

Thanks for all the reviews – My muse is like a vapid dingo looking for more. So please let me know what you think. I appreciate all the reviews and hope to see more. Or else all could fall by the way side.

**Planes, Trains, and Automobiles**

Jason descended the steps two at a time and thanked God the moment that his feet hit the pavement of the runway, his gaze drawn to the car waiting for him there. He moved with purpose, jogging the rest of the way. Control of the situation had been evading him for hours. He wanted to get some measure of it back as quickly as humanly possible. Everything that he learned while he was flying only served to make matters worse. Sam was gone, given over like some sacrificial lamb. He'd been helpless to talk reason into any plan that they could have come up with, cut off and left 25,000 feet up while his world was falling apart. Jason drew up short of the vehicle when a figure rose from the back seat to let him know he was there.

Sonny.

There was a long pause, in which Sonny watched for signs of where he stood with Jason, while Jason looked for any sign of remorse that Sonny had allowed Sam to put herself in the same situation as his daughter and Lulu. "Do you know where they are?" Jason broke the silence with a need for information, but the tension still hung heavy between them.

"Not yet. They crossed the border into Canada about three hours ago, heading North West." Sonny replied evenly, still watching Jason carefully as he made his way to the car. "Are we..."

"We're not OK." Jason cut him off, opening the door. He clenched his jaw with a sniff meeting Sonny's eyes over the top of the car to drive the point home further before slipping into the back seat, setting his case between the two of them in the seat. Sonny stood there a moment longer before he finally sank into the seat, the both of them closing their doors in unison. Sonny gave the request to the driver to take them back to his house.

"Did you even try to discourage her?" Jason met Sonny's eyes, needing the truth, it wasn't going to fix anything, but he wanted to know just how selfish Sonny had been about this.

"She was convinced that it was the fastest way to find them." Sonny started but Jason reached across the seat and grabbed him up by his shirt collar.

"Did you try to talk her out of it?" He demanded.

"Not when I realized that she was right." Sonny growled, meeting the fierceness in Jason's eyes with his own desperate fire. "Those animals took my seventeen year old daughter to sell as a sex slave. God only knows what they've done to her."

Jason softened but not by much. Still he released Sonny's collar and sat back, taking a breath as he fought to calm down. "Well now they have Sam and plan to do the exact same thing with her."

"She's got the GPS..."

Jason balled his hand into a fist. "And what happens when they find out she's transmitting or it gets lost? They'll kill her if they find it or we could lose all three of them. Did you even think of all the ways that this could go wrong? Or were you too busy thinking about your daughter to give a damn about anyone else?"

"I care what happens to all of them, and I'll destroy Castillo and everyone that helped him, but we've got to find them first, before...before..." Sonny's voice broke, unable to bring himself to even think about the possibility of defilement that could befall Kristina in these monster's hands.

Jason was teetering between unmasked rage and sympathy, but it was out of necessity that he reigned his anger in. If Sonny fell apart now, Castillo would win. He could drop this avenue for now. Jason finally placed a supportive hand on Sonny's shoulder. "They won't touch her, until she's sold. It would soil the merchandise." He hated to be so crass but he needed to get through to Sonny, that it was business to them. "I need you to think. Castillo didn't take Kristina to rattle you for no reason. He wouldn't abduct her and sell her without something else in mind. He's got you so turned around, chasing so many ghosts that you aren't thinking about his end game. He wants your territory and he's not going to get it by selling your daughter. He took her to throw you off of his real plan and you need to focus on finding out what that is, while I go get the girls."

Jason grew quiet as Sonny slowly let it sink in. He'd had plenty of time to think all of this out rationally while he'd endured the flight into Port Charles. Castillo was looking to take Sonny down, hard, and he was doing everything in his power to disorient him enough to drop his guard. "That's why he waited until you were out of town." Sonny got out in a whisper and Jason felt relief that he was getting through to him.

"Yeah. He probably sold out Bart just to get me out of the way for a while." Jason agreed. "Where in Canada is Sam? And have you got any confirmation that she's with Kristina and Lulu?"

"We can't be sure about whether or not she's with Kristina and Lulu. Assuming he's selling all the girls in one lot then they're together." Sonny replied as he wiped a trembling hand down his face, trying to still his nerves. Jason sniffed fighting another wave of anger at the idea that Sam might not have even been placed with the other girls, that this whole plan was folly. He squelched it down in favor of action . "Spinelli's keeping up with the locations, he can tell you when we get to the house." Jason gave a nod and shifted uncomfortably wanting to move, to do something. So much time was lost in transit.

**ZZZZZZZZZZZZ**

She woke trembling, muscles pinned in tight in cramped agony. What was more the rattle of the floor sent jarring vibrations, throwing her body against the bars that surrounded her. Sam jumped as she realized that she was pinned in tight, barely enough room to adjust her body. She started to kick out, but as soon as she flexed her muscles her right thigh cramped so hard that she couldn't help but scream.

Both hands flew to her leg and she tried to dig her thumbs and fingers into the muscle, anything to get the agony to abate.

"Quiet down!" Came a shout from a far, muffled by the growling whine of metal against metal. Sam closed her eyes, turning her face into the soft floor of her cage in order to muffle her pained breathing and small cries. It took a moment but the muscle soon relaxed, leaving her shivering in a mish mash of relief and terror as she finally tried to get a look at her surroundings. "Sam..." she barely heard it over the noise, but she looked in the direction of the voice just a stray beam of sunlight filtered in through the slits that surrounded the box car door.

For one glorious moment the golden rays fell on Lulu Spencer, illuminating her blonde ringlets and fearful features. "Lulu..." Sam got out in a rush, keeping her voice down as Lulu was doing so that they wouldn't be told to shut up again. "Where's Kristina?" Sam looked around frantically trying to see her sister through the intermittent bouts of light in the train car. There were three other crates, all containing broken spirits. When she finally laid eyes on Kristina she realized that she was unconscious.

"She's alright, just in shock." Lulu explained as if she could read the new fears that were blossoming in Sam's mind. "Please tell me you're part of the rescue party, that any minute the trains going to stop and we're going home." She whispered her own desperation bleeding through.

Sam tucked her bottom lip in and bit down, wishing like hell she could stop shaking. She closed her eyes trying to think of how to answer Lulu's question. Technically she was part of the rescue party, but she didn't have a clue how far behind everyone else was. "I'm part of the rescue party." She swallowed nervously when she saw hysterical relief, light the blonde's face. "Where are we?" She knew they were in a box car on a moving train, but that was the gist of what she'd gathered so far, other than fact that there were five crated women and three guards. What she was really asking was where the train was.

"I don't know. I haven't seen anything for a while. I know they moved us from a van in New York, but there's been no way to tell where we are. I think we're headed into Canada though. I heard one of the guards mention something about going fishing when he got to lodge in Quebec." Lulu replied quickly.

"What else can you tell me?" Sam waited for the light to shift through the car again, watching the guards to see if they were paying any attention to them, looking for signs that they could hear them. They seemed wrapped up in some conversation as the lack of light left little more activities feasible. They were in the clear for now so she shifted her attention to her more immediate surroundings.

"The sale is set for tomorrow night." Lulu swallowed tightly. "I saw the outfits we were supposed to wear." Her face contorted in disgust at the very thought.

"Barely there?" Sam tried the bars lightly, trying not to rattle them.

"That's an understatement," Lulu scoffed. "I'm so glad we're getting out of here. I don't think Kristina could take it. She's barely said a word in hours."

Sam angled herself to get a look at Lulu worriedly at the news of Kristina's in ability to cope with the situation. Not that she could blame her, she was kid, a kid who had been through far too much already. God, what if they were stuck in here for a while? She might lose her sister in a whole other way despite her faith that Jason could find them and save them. Sam was immediately rethinking her next move. But first she had to let Lulu down gently. "When I said I was part of the rescue party I didn't explain myself."

Their gaze met periodically as the light shifted through the car and Sam felt her heart breaking as she watched Lulu's hysterical relief fall into despair. "They're tracking us right now. As soon as they can, they'll get us out, but I don't know how long they'll need to plan or it'll take for them to get to us." Sam felt like a horrible person for having to bear such news to Lulu, because as soon as she got it out she realized that Kristina wasn't the only one in trouble. She had to get them out of here. They could find some city, call in the cavalry, something. At least they wouldn't be caged with the threat of being sold looming over them.

"At least you've got someone coming for you." Sam heard an unfamiliar voice and adjusted her gaze to one of the other crates, to a small red head who looked a few years older than Kristina. She was trying to reassure Lulu and Sam smiled softly in appreciation. She gave the other crate a glance but noticed that the woman there was unconscious.

"That's right." Sam agreed with her. "They are and we'll get you out too," She promised. "No one is going to sell any of us." Sam licked at her lips and ran her fingers over the combination lock that adorned the door to her cage. She had to wait for the light to hit it to breath a sigh of relief. It was a Masterlock. She never in her wildest dreams would have imagined that Spinelli's research for his book would get them out of this. He'd told her all about the Masterlock wiki to breaking combinations as one of his characters was a thief who was learning the trade.

She could eliminate it to 80 possibilities and go from there. What she needed was the plan for after the lock was undone. The light level made it a possibility to take out the guards but it was still incredibly risky. What she was trusting in was that the guards considered them to be product for sale and would try to subdue them without using deadly force. That eliminated a little of the risk, enough so to make the plan more and more feasible.

She'd need a diversion, something to get one of the guards to come over. She could hide and use the darkness to her advantage, take the first one out and then she would be armed. Take out the other two and then she could get the others out of their cages. The problem arose with what to do after that. They couldn't wait until the train stopped as Castillo's men would be able to over power them quickly and they would be right back where they were.

The alternative was to jump.

Sam hitched in a breath at the thought. She smoothed a hand down her body, realizing that they had removed her dress and replaced them with a light weight pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She was wearing socks, but no shoes. They all were. It was going to make getting around after they jumped a little inconvenient, uncomfortable, but the alternative...Sam breathed in deeply looking back to Lulu. She needed to know what everyone else wanted to do. Because either way, they were all in this together.

"I've got an idea, but I can't do it alone and I need to know if it's something that you guys want to try." Sam whispered to Lulu and the red head quickly. Kristina stirred but dropped off again mumbling something in her sleep. Sam swallowed the lump in her throat fighting back tears that her sister was suffering so and took a measured breath so that she could go on. "I can get out of this cage. If we cause a diversion I think I can take out a guard and arm myself to take out the other two and then get you guys out. The problem is, if we stay on the train then Castillo and his men will be waiting for us at the next stop. The train doesn't seem to be going that fast." She motioned to the way the light was filtering in around the doors and the tiny line of sight that they could get of the tree line. "We could jump and try and make our way to a town or just find a place to lay low so that Jason and the others can find us. It's risky but I think we can do it." Sam paused letting it sink in for them. "If it's something that you want to try I'll give it my best." She promised.

"What if you can't take out the guards? There are three of them and you're what like 90 lbs?" The other girl, a lanky ebony haired woman, had woken during the explanation and wanted to know how capable Sam was of defending herself.

"I can do it." At least she prayed she could. She had a lot to motivate her. "But if you're worried about repercussions If I fail – the guards want to sell us, bruising and bullet holes mean a loss to them. They'll try to take me down easy."

"I'm in." Lulu chimed in quickly and Sam could see a mixture of fear and relief cross her friends features once more.

"Me too." The red head was quick to jump in as well. Sam could tell that they had all been traumatized, there was no way of knowing how long the other two girls had been in captivity, but even with the three hours that they'd had Lulu and Kristina, Sam could tell that they had suffered, far more than she had. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she wasn't about to let anything else happen to them.

"I'm in too." the lanky one spoke up. Sam gave a soft nod in appreciation and looked to Kristina's small shivering form, making the decision for her.

"It's settled then."

**ZZZZZZZZZZ**

"Catch me up." Jason followed Sonny into his office frowning to see that Spinelli had fallen asleep with his head resting on the keyboard of his laptop. He didn't move to wake him, looking instead to Sonny for now so that he could do as he asked.

"Lucky's talking to his contacts with Interpol. He and Dante have been working that angle since the girls crossed the Canadian border a few hours ago. I questioned the recruiter that Jared thought might know something, same guy that took Sam in. I got a few names. I have some guys gone to get Chavez – another of Castillo's recruiters. Buckly named the third recruiter, Castillo brought him in recently, possibly to orchestrate Kristina's kidnapping. I've got someone after him too. Castillo's still in hiding." Sonny balled his fist in frustration at that.

Spinelli got both of their attention when he suddenly jumped awake muttering "Rabid Penguin!" as if such a creature were attacking him. Jason arched an eyebrow but everyone dismissed the nightmare cry in favor of whatever it was that Spinelli could have uncovered while they were gone. "Oh Stone Cold, you have returned." Spinelli looked about a moment shaking off the lingering effects of sleep, taking in the cleared out room and then the detailed information on the computer screen.

"Where are the girls?" Jason asked quickly.

"They're still traveling North West into Quebec. I've deduced that they are being transported by freight along the wild rails of our northern neighbor. The velocity and course leave no alternative." Spinelli explained.

"Alright. I'm going to go grab some gear from my place and I'll head in that direction." He met Sonny's eyes once more, knowing that he wanted to come with him, but knowing that he was needed here. Sonny knew it too and gave a nod in agreement.

"I'll get things under control here." Sonny promised him with conviction.

"I know you will." Jason looked back to Spinelli. "Call me as soon as you know the train that they are on and the destination."

"Of Course." Spinelli promised.

**ZZZZZZZZZZZ **

Lucky leaned back in his seat before shifting a sideways glance at Dante behind the wheel. Silence settled between them for Lucky was making a call to Sonny in Dante's stead. Of the two of them Dante was the most awake after their restless night and they had a long drive.

He straightened a bit when Sonny answered. "I was just checking in. Dante and I are on our way to a little town in Quebec called Occam. Interpol is letting us into their investigation into Castillo's organization. We're going to meet up with local official's there and then look into a warehouse that they suspect that Castillo is holding women until they can be sold." He paused listening to Sonny as he asked to be kept informed and then rattled off the least illegal thing that he was planning to do in the near future.

"I'm going to forget that I heard you say that." Lucky shook his head with an overtired smile. "Look I'll keep you posted, but Ethan might be coming by. I talked to him this morning. He's a wreck. The guilt of being taken down while the girls were kidnapped is eating him alive. He needs to help." Lucky nodded as though Sonny could see him. "I appreciate it. Yeah you too." He hung up and sank lower in the seat ready to try and pass out for the duration of the drive.

"He said he'd see about giving Ethan something to do and Jason's on his way to Quebec too." Lucky explained quickly. "We're going to keep each other posted."

"Sounds good. Try to catch some sleep." Dante settled in and while he seemed calm on the outside he was screaming on the inside, praying that they found the girls in time. All of them. He and Lucky had given Sonny a piece of their mind for getting Sam involved, but in a way Dante hoped that she could somehow help, he just hated that she had compromised herself like that, feared all the ways it could go wrong for her and Kristina and Lulu.

Lucky struggled to even entertain the idea of sleep despite his exhaustion, pale panic was waiting around the corner of his subconscious. He finally reached up and turned the radio on, flipping through the stations until he a sleepy beat lulled his aching mind. Dante didn't say a word as Lucky again tried to drift to Placebo's "Running up that Hill" infiltrating their senses.

"_Doesn't hurt me...you want to feel how it feels. You want to know, know that it doesn't hurt me. You wanna hear about the deal I'm making. You...you and me...and if I only could make a deal with God...and get him to swap our places. Be running up that road...be running up that hill...be running up that building."_

She caught the lock in her hand, silently nodding to Lulu as she slipped the catch lose and eased the door to her cage open. Sam fought the tremors and moved as quietly as she could, taking refuge in the shadows of the dark, scathing the intermittent light that she had welcomed before. She ducked into the darkness and Lulu took the moment as her own.

Lulu screamed bloody murder and began to thrash in her cage as if losing her mind, prompting a guard to rise to his feet and head in that direction.

"_And if I only could...You don't want to hurt me...but see how deep the bullet lies...unaware that I'm tearing you asunder...and there's a thunder in a our hearts, Baby. There's so much hate for the ones we love...tell me we both matter, don't we. You...you and me...you and me...we won't be unhappy." _

Sam clung to the shadows waiting for the right moment, until the guard came and knelt down to take a look at Lulu and she sprang to action. In the breadth of a heartbeat she punched him out, the noise alerting the other guards as his body hit the floor of the train car. Sam floundered to grab his gun before the other two could respond and brought it up to bear quickly, ready to shoot to kill.

"_If I only could make a deal with God...and get him to swap our places...Be running up that road...be running up that hill...be running up that building...If I only could..."_

Sam was ready to kill. She knew the stakes. "Drop them or I drop you." She promised as the light held shadows from her. They rose in a beat and she took aim at each instance, firing a shot into each. They knew the score. They knew what they were doing was wrong and still she felt guilt weighing into her heart at each shot. Sam felt tears slide down her cheeks as she fired one more shot into the last guy. Kristina would be saved...everything would be alright.

"_Come on baby, come on, come on Darling, Let me steal this moment from you now...Come on Angel...come on, come on, darling...Let's exchange the experience." _

Another shot rang out and Sam felt the whip lash toss her back as her hand seared with pain, the shot having struck her through the right palm, but she fought the pain to dive for the gun she'd just dropped and caught it in her left hand, firing again, this time with more insistence, until there was silence.

"_And if I only could...Make a deal with God...and Get him to swap our places...Be Running up that road...be running up that hill...with no problems...and if I only could make a deal with God...and get him to swap our places..."_

Sam slid down the wall at her back and looked at the two dead, and the cages in between, she let out a cry and fought to catch her breath.

"_Be running up that Road...be running up that hill...with no problems..."_


	4. The Cell Phone

**The Perfect Storm**

_Thanks again for the reviews. They are very much appreciated. _

_And so... Mid terms are over. I hope that doesn't mean that my muse is going to go vegetate. Lol I swear I have to be stressed out to prompt my muse :P wiles _

**The Cell Phone**

Sam tucked her right arm close to her body, holding her bloodied hand away from her as she pushed the muzzle of the gun against the floor to help push herself up. The pain was coming on fast playing chase with the shock of the wound. "Is everyone alright?" She got out between clenched teeth. She'd seen the two guards rise and start to aim, offsetting her assumption that they would try to take her down easy. Apparently they had a no tolerance policy on trying to escape.

"I'm alright..." Lulu panted out in terror trying to get a better look at Sam in the scatter light of the car.

"Me too." the red head called out.

"And me." the lanky one replied.

"Kristina?" Sam asked knowing that the gun fire would have woken her.

"I'm alright." Her voice sounded so small and Sam felt a quiver of fear snake through her.

Lulu finally got a look at Sam but took a breath to calm herself before she asked her about her hand so as not to scare Kristina any more than she was already was. "What about your hand?"

"It's a through shot. I have to get the bleeding stopped, but I'm alright." Sam got to her feet and swayed a bit before she found her balance. "I'm lucky the ricochet just hit my hand." She hoped the gratitude helped to alleviate Kristina's concern for her. Sam made her way across the car, past the cages, to where the guards had fallen.

" It looks bad." Kristina whispered as Sam passed her. Sam turned back and waited for a stray beam to catch Kristina's face so she could look her sister in the eyes.

"I've had way worse. I'm fine." She promised her. "And everyone is going to be ok. We're going to get out of here and go home." For the first time since she'd woken terrified for her sister, she saw relief cross Kristina's features prompting the same in Sam. Sam made her way to where the guards had been sitting, stepping over the bodies. She needed to take inventory, to find another way to get the locks open. Shooting them wasn't a feasible option. She would have to fire with her off hand and the cages were too small, confining the girls too close to the locks. If she missed she could kill them.

She could talk them through finding the combinations but that would take some time. Sam let out a breath as she looked at the area where the guards had been sitting. There was a bag with water bottles, a few soda cans, and junk food as well as few other items. Next to that there was a garbage bag with some empty cans and food wrappers in it. Sam felt her next wave of relief as she remembered an old make shift lock pick trick that was so easy a kid could do it and she quickly reached into the garbage bag for a soda can. She then riffled through the pockets of the dead guards and was full on smiling when she managed to find a pocket knife.

Sam left her gun on the floor and carried the can and knife to Lulu. "So here's what we're going to do. I don't suppose Lucky ever..."

"Made a shim with a can to open a lock?" Lulu finished for her with a chuckle. "He did – he was trying to impress Dad, and I remember how. Go take care of your hand. I've got this." Lulu took the can and the knife and got started. "Once I get out of here, I'll let the rest of you out." She promised the other girls.

"God I can't wait to stretch." the red head groaned in anticipation of such a simple action. "I'm Leila, by the way."

"Lulu." Lulu kept working but chimed in with her name.

"Kristina." Kristina had perked up a bit and Sam thanked God, praying that somehow she got through this in one piece, spiritually and physically.

"I'm Sam." Sam sank into the floor near the dead guards, careful to keep her gun in reach for when the other guard woke. Sam grabbed a bottle of water and held it awkwardly with her right arm, while unscrewing the top with her left hand.

"I'm Talia." The lanky one was the last to speak up.

Sam wrenched the top off the water and paused looking from the open bottle to her bloodied hand wrinkling her nose. Dread welled up behind her eyes and she had to swallow bile before she could even fathom introducing her wound to the water. She set her jaw, clenched her teeth, and willed every bit of resolve that she could muster in order to attempt getting through this next part without screaming. She poured the water finally, forcing the movement before she could talk herself out of it. She got through it without screaming, but the growl that was groaned out involuntarily announced the agony. She was left panting, trembling uncontrollably.

Minutes passed before she could move again. She drew her arm back to her chest and crawled one handed to the dead guards grateful to see a bandana poking out of one of their pockets. She refused to allow her mind to dwell on the sweat that this bastard had probably wiped onto it and allowed herself the delusion of it's cleanliness. An infection would be easier to combat than blood loss. Sam wrapped her hand as best she could and then moved to get these guys shoes off. That was three pairs that they could use, they'd strip the cover shirts and jackets and pilfer anything else that these guys had on them that they could use.

"So are you like a spy or something?" Leila asked as Sam as she waited for her rescue from the cage. She had the same kind of tone that Molly used when she was excitedly curious and Sam realized that she was younger than she looked. "Oh or an FBI agent – are you under cover?"

Sam chuckled and was about to answer but Talia spoke up before she could. "If she were undercover then we wouldn't be rescuing ourselves."

"I'm just a concerned, Sister." Sam finally was able to get a word in and she smiled softly at Kristina. She felt her heart jump when Kristina flashed a small smile of her own.

Leila looked from Kristina to Sam and back again as her lips parted in wonder. "Oh that is just so, so absolutely brilliant."

"Woohoo!" Lulu suddenly exclaimed as her lock clattered to the floor and she emerged from the cage all smiles. "I did it!"

Sam melted in relief and quickly crossed the distance to hug her. "Thank God." the reunion was short lived however as the guard she had knocked out, began to climb to his feet, trying to hide in the shadows as she had done earlier. "Stop." Sam lost any glibness she'd just recovered and raised the gun, taking aim at his chest.

The guy raised his hands in defense.

"Where are we?" Sam asked him quickly. Quebec was a large province and she didn't even know where to start guessing.

"You're not going to get away with this, Cas will have the rail yard in Occam crawling with more guys than you can handle."

"Then I guess we won't be going to the rail yard." Sam replied. "When is the train suppose to get to Occam? How far out are we?"

He hesitated as though he was going to stonewall her and she quickly angle her head, motioning towards his fallen buddies. "I'm not going to ask again. I'm just going to shoot you."

"We're seven hours out."

"Alright. What's the combo to the locks?"

"36, 24, 36."

Everyone still in a cage immediately shifted to get to their locks so that they could get out.

"Ok, I'm going to just gloss over the fact that you guys used an archaic and unrealistic measurement ratio for the perfect woman as the combination because of all the things that you've done that particular aspect of all of this ranks pretty low. Empty your pockets, take your coat and boots off and get in the cage." Sam heard the locks falling off the cages as the guy gave a groan but begrudgingly did as she asked. He had a hard time squeezing himself into the cage, but in the end he managed.

"Hands behind your back." Sam ordered as she motioned to a pair of cuffs he'd tossed to the floor from his pocket. Lulu quickly moved and cuffed the guy so that he couldn't reach the lock that Talia happily placed on the cage. She spit on him before she retreated from his presence.

"This is never going to work. Castillo will kill you." The guy ranted. Sam shook her head with a smile.

"We'll take our chances." Sam finally lowered the gun. Lulu moved to get the contents of the guys pockets and suddenly froze. "Sam..." She held up his cell phone. Sam's eyes widened and she quickly tucked the gun into the waistband of her sweats to reach for the cell.

"Good luck getting a signal out here," The caged guard scoffed which got him a kick against the bars from Talia.

Sam ignored him. "I'll get the door open, that should help." Lulu offered and hurried to the door as Sam fiddled one handed with the phone. When it proved too much for her, Kristina, Leila, and Talia went to help her. It took all four of them to unlatch and open the large metal door.

All of them flinched at the sudden onslaught of light but it was Leila that expressed a loud "Damn that burns, I feel like a vampire..." It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the light level as they all looked out over an expanse of wilderness as far as they could see in every direction.

"Ah – ha!" Sam couldn't contain her excitement as a single bar appeared at the top of the phone face and she dialed Jason's number and said a silent prayer raising the phone to her ear. "Come on come on come on." She whispered under her breath listening for the first ring. The other girls gathered around her watching so very closely, all appearing to be holding their breath in anticipation.

"Yeah?" Jason's voice was a Godsend.

"Oh thank God." Sam breathed in sweet relief.

"Sam?"

"Yeah it's me, I'm with Lulu and Krissy, everyone's alright." She couldn't help but smile, tears welling up behind her eyes.

"Sam?" Sam lost the smile when she was realized that he was having trouble hearing her. There was a crackle of static on the line.

Sam instantly moved, trying to center herself at the opening of the car, to angel the phone better...anything. "Jason, we're alright...we on a train." Sam called, raising her voice as if yelling it was going to help bridge the sporadic connection between them. "We're in Canada, seven hours away from Occam. I'd say we're going about 25 miles an hour so 175 miles. Can you hear me?" There was a desperate plea in her voice.

Sam closed her eyes, a tear born from a happiness so quickly departed slipped down her cheek. Silence grew into more static before the phone gave a beep to let them know that the connection was lost. Sam tried everything to get the bar back, but it was no use. When she finally turned to look at the rest of the group they all looked deflated. "Look we'll just go with the original plan. We jump. We find a place to lay low and Jason will use the GPS to find us."

"GPS?" Leila perked up as it sank in. "You are a spy! Did it hurt when they injected it? Oh My God that must be maddening to know that you can be found where ever you go."

Everyone turned and looked at Leila for a moment without saying a word.

"It's on my toe, disguised as a nail adornment. I'm not a spy." Sam reassured her.

"Yeah because everyone has nail adornments that double as microchips." Leila replied in disbelief. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Kristina, get one of the guards boots and a jacket, tie the boots on as best you can, I know they'll be big. You three need to decide who gets the other two pairs and the jackets, " Sam let them make the decision while she went over to get the bag of supplies. She winced when she pulled it over her shoulder, but tried to hide the pain.

"I'll carry the bag." Lulu had followed her and Sam breathed a sigh of relief before she handed it to her. Lulu took it and adjusted it over her shoulder then motioned for Sam to show her her hand. "Let me see it." Sam reluctantly held it up, letting Lulu see that her blood had already thoroughly soaked the bandana. "Just hold still a moment. I need to tighten it."

"Thank you, Lulu." Sam whispered glad to have someone to lean on for a moment.

"I think I'm the one that should be thanking you, but you're welcome." Lulu adjusted the bandana getting a scream from Sam before she doubled over. "Sorry, so sorry."

"No..." Sam panted out straightening finally. "I'm fine...I'm ok." Though Lulu was pretty sure that fine didn't look that shade of pale. Sam forced a watery smile and nodded towards the door. "You guys ready?"

**ZZZZZZZZZZ**

"The train is scheduled 4 rendezvous points. Flint, Carson, Branford, and Occam." Spinelli explained over the phone. Jason had stopped to fill the tank back up and now paced the parking lot as Spinelli filled him in on what he'd found. "It's velocity is being maintained at 27 miles an hour so you should be able to intercept it in Flint should your speeds exceed 50 miles an hour for at least half an hour."

"Alright. Thanks. Have Dante and Lucky gotten to Occam yet?" Jason had been following the tracks so he was way off course. They should have made it via highway a lot faster.

"Not yet."

Jason heard a beep and looked quizzically at the phone, not recognizing the number. "I've got another call." It was his warning that the conversation was over and he quickly answered.

"Yeah?"

"Oh...Ga," The voice was broken with static but he would have recognized it anywhere. Jason tensed not sure if he should be relieved or scared to death. Sam had a phone which meant – something.

"Sam?"

"...me...with...Kris...'right." God he hoped that she was trying to tell him that they were alright.

"Sam?"

" ...train...in Cana...hours...Occam...we're go...25 mi...hour...175...you...me?"

Jason closed his eyes trying to make since of the fragmented message and just prayed that she could hear him better than he could hear her. "Sam, I can't hear you. I just hope that you can hear this. I'm already across the border, I can intercept the train in Flint in like an hour. You just have to stay where you are. Just hold on a little while longer. I love you, Sam." silence and static mingled as a response.

The phone beeped to let him know that the connection was lost and Jason lost it, all the frustration and bottled up anger breaking through the wall he'd put up to keep Sonny free of his wrath. Jason's fist connected with the passenger window, the blow hard enough to crack the glass. He pulled his fist back in a pained recoil, the pain serving to pull him out of the fit. Jason closed his eyes, breathing out sharply, holding his fist tucked to his body as he fought to calm down. "I'm coming, Sam." he finally whispered moving to get back on the road. When he started the car the radio burst on, reminding him that before the phone calls he's been trying to while the hours away with distractions. As he was he wasn't in the mood for a song by Metric especially when he caught a stray of the lyrics. _"Help. I'm alive."_ It was as if the song was mocking his efforts.

He flicked the radio off and tossed his phone in the passenger seat, before peeling out and back into the road, speeding towards Flint.

**ZZZZZZZZZZ**

"_I tremble...they're gonna eat me alive...if I stumble...their gonna eat me alive...can you hear my heart beating like a hammer...beating like a hammer...Help. I'm alive. My heart keeps beating like a hammer...Hard to be soft, tough to be tender. Come take my pulse the pace is on a runaway train..."_

"Remember to duck and roll." Sam called over the sound of the wind. All five of them stood at the precipice, looking down a 7 foot drop onto a grassy rail side. Lulu had decided to rough it for the sake of the others and she and Sam were now the only ones without coats or shoes. Sam was in charge of the guns, while Lulu carried the supplies.

"See you on the other side!" Talia went first, followed by Kristina and Leila. Lulu was next and Sam went last, making sure that they all landed safely before allowing herself the jump. She hit the ground with her hand tucked close to her, but the jar of rolling left her panting in tears in a heap, struggling to pull herself up past the pain. But it did dull and she rose to her feet looking at the train as it sped down the tracks.

Minus it's precious cargo.

"_Help. I'm alive...my heart keeps beating like a hammer...beating like a hammer...beating like a hammer...If you're still alive...my regrets are few...If my life is mine...what shouldn't I do...I get wherever I'm going...I get whatever I need...While my bloods still flowing...and my hearts still beating like a hammer..." _

Spinelli watched the blip suddenly slow to a stop and eyed the screen in wide eyed confusion, but before he could even begin to entertain what that meant he noticed something far more nefarious.

Someone had just breached his firewall!

He was being hacked. Spinelli sprang into action in horror that anyone could penetrate his fortress of solitude with such grace. It had to be Castillo's computer guy!

No!

He wasn't going to win this time!

"_Help. I'm alive..."_


	5. Polar Bears and Penguins

**The Perfect Storm**

**Polar Bears and Penguins**

Jason ducked between the cars, gun drawn, moving deftly in a subtle afternoon shadows as he advanced on the open car parked near the sparsely populated train platform. From what he could tell, the station was devoid of anyone but Castillo's men. Five to be exact. They were loading more women from the platform to the train. Whatever was going on, the raised voices indicated that it wasn't planned.

Jason swallowed tightly as he finally slid around the corner of the car that was his goal and maneuvered himself so that he could hear what was being said without being seen.

"You lost five of them?" One of the new arrivals must have been talking to someone who had been on board. Five what? Was Sam part of that number? Jason's breath hitched. What did lost mean? Escaped? Or Dead? He closed his eyes for a breath of a second his heart beating triple time at the very thought that she could be dead...that any of them could be.

"Look they killed Phil and Eddy and broke out. One of the chicks had some sort of training or experience or something. But she's wounded. I shot her, but she still managed to take me down." Jason had to fight to stay his position, knowing now that he had to be talking about Sam. He now knew that they had escaped but that she had been shot in the process. Why hadn't Spinelli called him? He should have known if she was off the train.

"Look we'll send the other team out to find them, they're what an hour back?"

"Yeah. They jumped about an hour ago."

"They shouldn't be that hard to catch, They're low on food and water, hell they're barely dressed. How far can they make it out there?"

Every word that fell from their lips only served to enrage Jason even more. Every word pressed just how quickly he needed to find them and he was torn between taking everyone of them out right now or letting it go in order to get to them faster.

Another guy entered the car from the platform. "Speezy said he was only twenty minutes out from the jump sight. He can go in on foot. Percy's hacked Corinthos nerd's system we've even got a last known."

And that cinched his decision.

Jason moved stealthily as quickly as possible, hurrying back to his car. He had to get to them before this Speezy guy. Once behind the wheel he quickly put in a call to Lucky while peeling out of the train station like the devil himself was behind him. Jason was going 80 by the time he answered the phone.

"Hey, the warehouse was a bust." Lucky answered with news as he realized that he was talking to Jason.

"Right." He was about to speak again, but Lucky went on.

"I think the local official are being paid off by Castillo, they must have tipped them off that we were raiding the warehouse."

"Lucky, tell me about it later." Jason yelled over the roar of the engine his voice choked with frustration. "I need you to get your Interpol friends to the train station in Carson. Castillo's men are in car 47 with three caged women. They're at Flint now, but the train is about to pull out again. You can catch them at Carson."

"Where are you getting this from?" Lucky asked quickly.

"I thought that Sam, Kristina, and Lulu were on the train, but it works out that they escaped. Sam's injured. They're on foot an hour South East of Flint. Castillo's got some guys already headed there and they're closer than I am." Jason didn't answer the question, he didn't have time to dance around all of this right now. Lucky could just accept that he knew it.

"I thought Spinelli was tracking them!" Lucky exclaimed in horror.

"He was. I don't know what happened, I over heard someone say that maybe one of Castillo's guys hacked Spinelli and they had the last coordinates from the GPS. That doesn't mean that they have real time data, but it won't matter. If they get close enough, they'll be able to track them." Jason explained as he checked his mirror and caught an SUV swiftly approaching behind him.

Dammit. They must have seen him pulling out of the station.

"Where are they?" The terror in Lucky's voice let him know that they were on the same page.

"I don't have specifics yet. They jumped off a train and have had an hour to walk." Jason adjusted his view from the rear view to the road and back again, repeatedly as he waited for the inevitable. The first shot bore through the back windshield and went into the passenger seat. Jason set his phone down, placing it on speaker phone as he grabbed the wheel with his left hand and took his gun in his right. God he didn't have time for this.

A second shot whizzed past his ear, narrowly missing his head.

"Is that gun fire?" Lucky asked all at once.

"It's just the radio." Jason replied evenly knowing that Lucky knew better, but not wanting them to be liable for what he was about to do. "Just a sec..."

Jason was thankful that the roads were devoid of life out here. He hadn't seen a car for hours and luckily that didn't change now. He took a hard right onto a side road and kept going right even after he cleared the lane, nearly turning the car in a full circle all the while firing out his window at the back tires of the other vehicle.

The moment his shot hit, the blow out from the tire and the fact that the car was trying to follow him into the turn served as the right set of ingredients to flip the car. It flipped once on the road way careening towards an embankment on the other side of the road and then flipped several more times on the way down the steep incline. It was enough to disable the vehicle, possibly kill the occupants and that meant they weren't shooting at him.

"That was not the radio." Lucky called out finally in alarm.

"What you never listened to Prairie Home Companion?" Jason countered as he got the car back on the road. "Look I have to talk to Spinelli...find out what you can from the locals about the area of tracks an hour south east of Flint. The door was opened on the East side so they jumped East. I'll call you back when I'm closer." Jason didn't really give him a chance to reply as he tossed his gun into the seat and picked up the phone, hanging up on Lucky so that he could call Spinelli.

Jason accelerated again, pushing the car as far as he could the speedometer teetering between 90 and 100.

"Answer the freaking phone." He yelled at his cell when Spinelli let it ring several times. Finally a "So sorry Stone Cold," greeted him.

"Why didn't you tell me they jumped?" He lit into him instantly.

"Aha! Take that arch nemesis!" Spinelli got out excitedly.

"Spinelli?"

"I'm Sorry. My fortress of Solitude was invaded by the Sinister One's forces. I have sense banished them back to their own realm." Spinelli sounded excited and Jason could tell that this was a recent development.

"Where is Sam, Spinelli?"

"I think that they jumped from the clutches of their captors a little over an hour ago, but I couldn't call. I was too busy defending their whereabouts from the enemy."

"It doesn't matter, They already know enough. I need to know exactly where she is." Jason ground out between clenched teeth.

"I can send the data to your phone." Spinelli promised him.

"Do that." Jason agreed. Jason looked to his phone warily when it beeped to let him know that Lucky was trying to call him back. Something had to be wrong on that front for such a quick recall. "Spinelli, I'll call you back." he promised him and then quickly answered Lucky's call with a "What?"

"They're in the Reservoir Gouin. Accessible by foot or flight. We can make up some of the time by meeting up with some locals near the tracks and flying to the nearest clearing to them. They can drop us in. There are some dirt roads but they're useless without some knowledge of the area or a guide. And if these guys know the area than we need every advantage we can get."

"We might not have time for..."

"Unless they have a helicopter they can't get as close as we can as fast as we can." Lucky promised him.

"And if they do?" Jason retorted.

"Then it's pointless to waste time arguing about it, it's still our fastest way in." Lucky replied vehemently. We can meet you at the clearing 5 miles southwest of the tracks where they jumped in half an hour. Even if you reach the place they jumped and go in on foot, this way is faster."

Jason weighed his options and how much he could trust Lucky at the moment, before he gave a reluctant. " Alright. I'll meet you there."

**ZZZZZZZZZZ**

"Should we be worried about Polar bears?" Leila turned out to be a nervous talker, but everyone was so tired and weary that her random questions helped to give them something other than the cold and their circumstances to think about.

"Further north. Not where we are." Kristina replied from behind Leila. They had ended up in a single file line, trying to traverse the wilderness.

"Are you sure?" Leila asked as she waited for Talia to jump a narrow embankment in front of them. She then followed her lead as did everyone else. Their current marching order was Talia, Leila, Kristina, Lulu, and Sam.

"She's sure." Talia replied in frustration from in front of Leila. They stopped and waited for everyone else to jump the small stream before they started again.

"What about penguins?" Leila finally asked.

"Why would anyone worry about Penguins?" Lulu was the one that had to chime in to that.

"I've heard they can get territorial." Leila explained quickly.

"Further north...Lei." Talia sighed.

"I'm not sure." Leila replied in disbelief. Sam was the one that had a reply to that.

"Well you don't seem dissuaded by the truth often." She smirked in sarcasm, hearing Lulu chuckle in front of her.

"Seriously," Leila didn't take it sarcastically however. "Penguins can be dangerous."

Sam heard Kristina chuckle and couldn't contain her own laughter. It seemed an absurd thought.

"It's no laughing matter, I mean what happens when they surround us and try to peck our eyes out?" Leila interjected seriously despite the infectious laughter that was moving through the group.

"They don't come this far south, I promise." Lulu called over the group.

"Do you know anything about where we are?" Leila challenged. Lulu actually paused at that after the laughter stopped.

"Actually not really." She finally replied.

"Then it's possible that we could all be pecked to death by penguins!"

Another fit of laughter rolled through the group, causing Leila to stop in frustration. "This is no laughing matter! Penguins can be deadly! I watched a documentary on it."

Sam had to fight to catch her breath from the fit of laughter she'd just endured and she let the talk of penguins fall to the front of the group while she moved closer to Lulu for a more private meeting. She was glad that Kristina was finding humor with the group and she didn't want to rob her of that. She could hear the muffled bickering about the lethality of penguins ahead of them but tuned it out.

"We need to find a place to rest, hand out some water and build a fire in case we're stuck out here tonight." Sam cautioned Lulu softly, letting her know that they had to guide the others into their next step. "I was hoping we'd find a place for shelter tonight or a town or something, but we may have to rough it." Sam was shivering as she spoke. The sun was still relatively high meaning near late afternoon and the temperatures didn't seem to be dipping to low. Not yet anyway. She was more worried about the swiftly approaching night.

Lulu noticed the shiver and arched an eyebrow worriedly. She hung back a moment and ambushed Sam with a hand swipe against her forehead. "Geez, You're burning up." She whispered worriedly.

Sam tried to duck the hand but didn't manage it and then looked back at Lulu with a sigh. "I'm fine. It's just a little fever. It'll break in the night." She said with hope that the words she spoke were true.

Lulu regarded her with worry but let it go for now. "OK, we make camp." She agreed with that much.

A scream from the front of the group got all of their attention and Lulu and Sam both rushed the front of the line in worry. When they got there they found Leila swatting at her arm like she'd just been snake bit.

"What happened?" Lulu implored her worriedly.

"Caterpillar!" Was Leila's only reply and Lulu rolled her eyes taking a step back. The whole group soon fell silent in unison as they all looked in awe at a thankful sight. A cabin was in the distance, looking lone and welcoming to their group, two whole stories of it just waiting for them.

They made their way through the mire and trudged upon the front steps finding no one at home. It wasn't the best shelter, but it was something, offering three bedrooms and a fire place. There was no running water or a stocked pantry but they could still appreciate the shelter.

The group walked into the cabin with a collective sigh of relief. Sam placed a gun beside the door on a table there, while she kept another in her waist band. She was glad that there didn't seem any impending threats lurking about. They checked the house from top to bottom and all came back to the main living room excited that they had a place to sleep in peace, hopefully.

Lulu set her bag of supplies down and quickly began to hand out water bottles to get everyone hydrated. "There are a few food bars in here and we'll all split them, but we need some wood to burn in the fireplace tonight." She explained to everyone as Sam sank into a chair next to the door.

"I'm on it." Talia assured her about the wood for the fireplace.

"You shouldn't go alone." Kristina interjected.

"I'll go too." Leila promised.

Soon Lulu and Sam were left alone in the cabin.

"You've lost a lot of blood." Lulu wasn't pulling punches since it was just the two of them.

"I think I'm still, OK." Sam replied evenly, though she was fighting to keep her lids open. "I just need to sleep."

"I can keep watch tonight." Lulu promised her.

"You shouldn't have to do it alone," Sam rebutted. "Just wake me half way through and I'll take over." She promised her.

Lulu hesitated but finally agreed.

**ZZZZZZZZZZ **

Jason parked his car and climbed out looking out at all the emergency vehicles that were parked at the edge of nothing. Forest lay beyond the canopy but the air strip was still visible. He tucked his guns where they needed to be and made his way to where Lucky and Dante stood awaiting the chopper that was about to take them to the women that they all loved...

"_Whenever I'm alone with you...you make me feel like I am home again...whenever I'm alone with you...you make me feel like I am whole again...Whenever I'm alone with you...you make me feel like I am young again...whenever I'm alone with you...you make me feel like I am fun again..." _

Sam dozed alone in a chair by the door as Lulu fussed over the others while they all sat before the fire eating candy bars and drinking bottled water, trying to maintain their strength as they knew not what awaited them. There was laughter and tears as they joked while Sam slept and the fire roared in the hearth.

"_However far away...I will always love you...how ever long I stay...I will always love you...whatever words I say...I will always love you...I will always love you..."_

As the night descended a helicopter loomed over the landscape and several men slipped down ropes dropped from either side of the vehicle into the wilds of Canada. What they didn't know was that there were other men descending on the cabin even as they marched towards it.

- last song – by Snack River Conspiracy : their cover of "Love song".


	6. The Fishing Cabin

**The Perfect Storm**

I did feel really bad for leaving it there...so here's another chapter to make up for it. Thanks so much for reviewing! As always they are greatly appreciated. :thanks:

**The Fishing Cabin**

Twilight set in with a vengeance, light slipping away with each heartbeat and breath. Jason set the pace, taking the lead with his phone as guide. They were racing against nightfall, running all out, dodging trees and brambles, jumping rivulets of streams. They had flashlights, but the dark would still slow them. Dante brought up the rear, a bag of emergency supplies slapping his back with each foot fall. They all ran with their guns drawn, ready for a fight as they had news that the enemy could already have reached the girls by now.

The plan wasn't the best, but it was the only one they had at the moment. They first had to secure the girls safety. After that it was going to be a ten mile hike with the whole group to get them to a landing strip so that they could get them all air lifted out. If everyone was in good shape then they would wait for morning before they set out. If not, depending on the shape, they would have to regroup. Jason just prayed that Sam was alright. That she was just grazed or that the bastard he'd overheard was just talking the incident up to make himself look better.

They covered a mile before they had to stop short to catch their breath, no one said anything, all of their strength was reserved for this run, every breath focused on just getting there. Precious seconds of light lost as they recouped. Finally Jason gave them a whisper of an update on how far they had still to cover. " Another mile and a half..." He got it out at a pant. Dante and Lucky both gave a nod conserving their breath for the run.

Once they caught their breath the race began again.

At fourth of a mile out after another rest and resurgence a gun shot whipped through the forest. It was followed in rapid succession by a hail of gun fire in response and then...

Screams.

All thee of them froze as the screams swam around them, high pitched, pained, horror infused. For a heart beat they stood their trying to gauge the direction before Jason moved once more trusting the GPS instead of his ears, his heart threatening to burst from his chest as terror hung heavy. They covered the distance in just under 2 minutes, but stopped at the edge of the tree line as they came upon a cabin, a soft glow and rustling from several windows speaking of it's level of occupancy.

The screams had died down, but as the last light of day slipped over the precipice of the horizon, a wale of agony broke from the house. Jason slid behind a tree, easing out just enough to get a look at the cabin, trying to spy where the enemy was. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, holding back.

"There's one upstairs." Dante whispered from his perch behind a nearby tree.

"I've got two downstairs." Lucky whispered.

"There's three." Jason corrected him.

"I'll go around the back." Dante offered, seeing Jason already eying the front, ready to move. Jason gave a nod in agreement.

"Lucky, you cover Dante, if I get in trouble at the front they might not know you're there yet. You can turn it around." Jason waited for some debate about killing these guys versus taking them in, but he never got it.

They were on the move again, descending on the cabin as the helpful shadows of nightfall hid them from view. Dante and Lucky had slipped from view, headed around the back of the cabin. Jason hedged closer to the front window, sliding his back against the outside wall as he approached, trying to get a better look at what the lay of the situation.

"Nooooo!" An ear splitting shriek erupted from the living room and Jason flinched recognizing it as Lulu's. "You don't have to do this..." She was pleading. "Just take us back in."

"We're past that." He heard a man growl out. "You getting this?"

"Yeah."

Jason furrowed his brow, trying to understand the context of the words and slowly eased himself to the windows edge. He took a quick look in the window and felt bile rise in his throat at the scene that was playing out before him. One of Castillo's men had Lulu pinned, slowly tracing a knife up her arm while another man stood across from them videoing the event.

On the floor hands bound before them, duck tap covering their mouths, Kristina and a red head sat sobbing. Another man knelt next to Kristina and the red head taunting them that they were next. A few feet away, dark ringlets soaked in a swath of blood, shielding her face from view, what Jason could only imagine was Sam lay on the floor, bleeding out from what looked like a hail of bullet wounds in her back.

At that one moment Jason felt his world collapsing, unadulterated rage blinding him to all but gunning these bastards down. He couldn't testify to what happened next as something inside him snapped, breaking the cold and calculated facade that he'd been clinging to. He kicked in the front door and rounded the hallway to the doorway of the front room where they were holding the girls. In one deft play he fired six shots in rapid succession shifting his aim before the three gunmen could even attempt to reacquaint themselves with their guns that they laid aside for this little torture session.

Lulu screamed wrenched backwards with the guy that had been holding her as the bullet took him down. Kristina and Leila were screaming into their duct tap gags and Jason raced across the room to get to Sam.

"Sam?" God if she was alive could she survive? Was that even possible? He knew something was off when he knelt down beside her in a panic and quickly took her into his arms, rolling her onto her back against his chest so he could access the damage. Dead eyes met his own and Jason breathed out in shock and relief.

It wasn't Sam.

"She's upstairs," Lulu sobbed out as she tried to disentangle herself from her dead attacker. Jason pushed the poor woman off his lap and was back on his feet in a heart beat rushing towards the stairs as Dante and Lucky burst in from the kitchen. Jason passed them rounding the stair rail and yelled down to them pointing towards the living room. "Protect them!"

He didn't have to tell Dante or Lucky, they were already rushing into the room. Dante was at Lulu's side in a heart beat, taking her hand to help her step over the body of the man who only moments ago was about to begin torturing her in front of the others. She jumped over the body and fell into his arms. "Oh thank God." She breathed in tears taking the moment.

Dante pulled back, his thumbs caressing her cheek as he cupped her chin, looking her over. "Are you alright?" he knew she was traumatized that none of the girls were truly alright but what he needed to know was if she was injured.

"No, no I'm fine..." Lulu stuttered out.

Lucky hurriedly knelt down next to Kristina and Leila and as gently as he could removed the duct tape and freed their hands knowing that Dante would take care of his sister. "Everything is going to be OK..." he promised the girls as he freed them. "They can't hurt you anymore." as soon as Lucky got Kristina free she drew her knees to her chest and buried her head against them withdrawing from the group. Lucky paled worriedly but needed to free the other girl. God what had they missed?

Lucky freed Leila and the red head immediately sprang to her feet rushing to the fallen girl in the floor. "Talia!" She wept out as she drew the other woman into her arms. Lulu looked back at the scene as more tears fell across her cheeks and she forced herself to move to go to Leila, kneeling down with her wrapping her arms around her in comfort and console.

Lucky sank into the floor next to Kristina and gently wrapped an arm around her meeting Dante's eyes in horror at what had happened here. Not knowing only made it worse for the imagination could be cruel mistress. Dante was having trouble choking anything out past his own breathing but made his way over to Lulu and Leila gently guiding them away from their new found friend's body.

Jason took the steps two at a time, praying she was alright, the scare of losing her still settled in his chest. "Sam?" Jason reached the second floor hallway and froze as he turned to see Sam in the doorway of a room at the end of the hallway. She was shaking so hard she could barely hold onto the door frame that she clung to to stay on her feet.

Her T-shirt was torn at the shoulder, dipping low to her elbow, exposing the soft swell of the top of her breast and her sweats rode low on her hips, blood soaked into the waist band from a hurried attempt to get them back on. Ringlet maroon marks encircled her arms from the fight he could only imagine she must have put up and her right eye was marred with a fist sized shadow still promising to bruise.

Jason felt rage and fear coalescing as he read between the lines and he advanced slowly leery that there was still an assailant up here with them. "Where is he?" He whispered softly to Sam as he kept his back angled towards the wall. God he was going to take this guy apart. The fear in Sam's eyes as she looked up told him all that he needed to know. She made a point to look towards the door frame confirming his suspicion and Jason gave her a nod to let her know he understood.

The guy was hiding behind the wall beside the door holding Sam at gunpoint about to begin negotiating for his safe passage out of the cabin, probably using Sam as a hostage and Jason wasn't about to let that happen. He met Sam's eyes and adjusted his aim to the wall beside her. She nodded and he fired. As soon as his finger met the trigger Sam pushed herself away from the door frame as hard as she could in an attempt to distance herself from the bullets. Jason heard the thud of the body and in an instant was rushing to Sam's side quickly looking inside the room to make sure the guy was dead.

Sam melted into the safety net of his arms crumbling into a full body sob as her face met the cusp of his shoulder and she breathed him in. Jason drew his arms around her gently as if she would break and all he could do was pull her tighter to him, enfolding her into his protective embrace, his head tenderly nudging the top of her head as he closed his eyes and breathed out in sweet relief. Tears dotted his eyes when he opened them once more for the pain that was eating a hole in his heart at what she'd been through. He didn't know the half it yet but she bore the story in marks and bullet holes.

Jason pulled the both of them to their feet gently adjusting her so that he could pick her up, even without the lithe weight of her body to support she was trembling against him her body shivering in waves of pain and shock. The sobs were slowly dying down but when she finally spoke her voice was raw with tears. "I knew you'd find me."

"I'll always find you." He whispered against her ear, kissing her cheek as he walked the both of them down the stairs needing to see what he could do for her. Dante had the medical kit. By the last step she'd passed out and Jason quickened his pace in growing terror. He carried her into the living room and quickly placed her on the couch.

"I need that kit, now." He told Dante in a panic as he started checking her over for injuries. In the end he found red marks that would soon darken and the bullet wound in her hand. "Is anyone else hurt?" He asked as Dante handed him the first aid kit.

"Just in shock...and..." Lucky motioned to where Talia's body lay, now covered with a throw that Dante found on the back of the couch. "One of them didn't make it."

"Her name was Talia." Leila whispered, giving them her name. She'd sank next to Kristina and taken Lucky's place there while Lucky wrapped his arms around Lulu to console his sister in Dante's stead while he came to help Jason with Sam.

"Did they tell you what happened?" Jason asked softly, trying to keep it between himself and Dante.

Dante shook his head and kept his voice soft. "They're all in shock, Kristina won't even look at anyone. It's going to take some time."

Jason motioned to the video camera. "There are other ways."

"Yeah...I'm not sure that tells the whole story." Dante swallowed tightly at the very thought of watching the video. It left him nauseated to even think about what could be on it, a living nightmare that his sister and girlfriend had just witnessed or endured. "What about Sam?"

Jason removed the old wrapping around Sam's hand wincing at the mess he found there. She'd done the best she could he was sure, but...God. He quickly cleaned the wound glad that she was unconscious for this part and then used what he could from the kit to patch her back up. She needed entirely more help than he could offer. "I found her with one of them in an upstairs bedroom. She might...she was maybe..." Jason met Dante's eyes tearfully unable to say it.

Dante looked to the floor in horror unable to maintain eye contact at the revelation. He didn't press him, understanding. Jason sniffed past the disgust and looked to his bloodied hands.

"You should wait til morning. Take the girls and head to the airstrip. I've got to get Sam out of here tonight though. She's feverish, she's lost a lot of blood. She can't wait til morning." Jason finally told Dante.

"You think you can carry her for ten mile at night?" Dante asked him worriedly.

"I could carry her a thousand..." Jason bit back, not about to argue with Dante over the right course of action here. "I've got the GPS. I can find the airstrip, hell I would run the whole way there if it meant saving Sam's life." Jason assured him. Dante finally nodded knowing that he would do the same thing for Kristina or Lulu.

"Get her home." he agreed with him. "We'll take care of everyone else." He promised him.

"Thank you."

"_Out of time...I hear your voice...Break through the noise...and pain...my heart's refrain...why can't I convince myself...that this is the right time to contend...Will you please...Ease my Pain..."_

Jason adjusted Sam in his arms, moving as swiftly as he could through the night, having to hold a flashlight with his hand that was cradled beneath the bend of her knees. He tried to be gentle with her as he walked into the night, leaving behind them the shelter of the fishing cabin. The sounds of the night – the forest kept his nerves raw as he looked into darkness for threats to combat vowing to not allow any more harm befall her, ever again.

"_Break the tide...that's pushing you...outside the place you're safe...don't pretend...Ask my eyes...protect my gaze...as the light brings the day...I pray...Will you please...Ease my Pain..."_

Dante sat on the couch with Lulu snuggled against his chest, the soft sound of her breathing letting him know that she had fallen asleep. Lucky was sitting between Kristina and Leila an arm around each, both of them fast asleep on his shoulders. Dante looked at the video camera licking his lips in disgust for what it must contain, what he might find there. Could he watch it? Would it help? He was so torn, so unsure of what to do a part of him wished, prayed that he could erase it from their minds so easily as he could erase the data that the camera held.

He couldn't and that ate him up inside.

God, was he brave enough to watch what these bastards had done?

"_Will you please...Ease my Pain..."_

- Last song is "Ease my pain" by Declan Flynn


	7. The Hospital

**The Perfect Storm**

Of all the things to have to keep me from updating, I was stuck coding a program for a slot machine :P It looks pretty though and works.

Okay onto the less random.

Thanks for the reviews. Always appreciated and in answer to a question – Leila is 18.

So this story is almost over. I should wrap it up in 2 – 3 chapters. Probably 2 but maybe 3. I've got plenty of ideas to go with a sequel though if there is interest :) So anyway let me know whatcha think.

**The Hospital**

72 long, hard, draining hours. Jason hadn't slept since the night before his hit in South America. He couldn't, not until Sam was safely tucked into a hospital bed, stable, and a mingle of Interpol and Sonny's body guards stood watch outside her door. He'd barely sank into the arm chair by her bedside before he was out. He'd put his phone on vibrate in order to catch up on what was going on with Sonny back in Port Charles, but the vibrations couldn't shake him out of his slumber.

He slept like the dead until the morning light brightened the stark white room. Sam was still out when he woke, She hadn't woken the whole walk to the air strip, or in the helicopter. They said it was from the blood loss. The verdict was that she was stable, had not been raped, but that she needed surgery to repair splintered bones so that she would be able to regain full mobility in her hand and fingers. They were waiting on more tests results and giving her blood.

Jason leaned forward in his chair and gently folded his hand around hers, counting his blessings. Some of his worst fears had been quieted. She was going to make it, she was going to be okay, she hadn't been scarred by rape. He knew the trauma of the event wasn't gone, but he had to take solace in what could have been, had to be thankful that despite every injustice she was going to be alright. He would find a way to make that happen.

He traced his thumb lightly over the back of her good hand, watching her sleep. She'd saved her sister, but at what price? Jason knew it was like to make sacrifices, he couldn't be angry at her for choosing to make her own. That didn't mean that he had to like the plan or the end results. What still ate at him was that Sonny had known what could happen and was more than willing to put Sam in the line of fire without regard for her own safety. Jason loved Kristina and he wouldn't wish any harm on Lulu but there were other ways that this could have been handled. Unfortunately none of them were guaranteed to work any better than the path that was chosen.

What's more, Jason knew this wasn't over. Castillo's play on Kristina was just a distraction. He was fighting too hard to get them all back in one piece to stop and talk to Sonny or Spinelli about what else could be going on, what they might be returning home to.

As if on cue the soft vibrations of his phone let him know that he had an incoming call. Jason let out a sigh in frustration and quietly leaned over to place a tender kiss on Sam's forehead before withdrawing his hand in favor of taking the call out in the hall so as not to disturb her.

"Yeah?" He answered quietly once he passed the guards and agents with a wave, he headed down the hall, out of earshot but still within line of sight.

"How is everyone?" Sonny asked him worriedly. Jason had called him from the hospital before he'd passed out, but the conversation had been short, just to let him know what was going on.

"I don't know. Sam's stable but she's scheduled for surgery this afternoon if all her test results come back good. I haven't heard from Dante or Lucky yet, they should be headed to the landing strip. I'm sure they'll be at the hospital soon." Jason reassured him. "What about there? Did Spinelli deal with the computer guy?"

"He said he did, said something about a bug..." Jason could hear the shrug in Sonny's voice. "But anyway, we had a set back last night. I lost eight guys. Ethan's at the hospital in critical condition, but they tell me he'll make it."

"What happened?" Just when he thought they could take a breath. Jason closed his eyes. He didn't relish the thought of telling Lucky and Lulu that their brother was in critical condition. God where would this end?

"They blew up one of my warehouses. Spinelli's got a lead on Castillo and some Percy guy we're going to hit them hard and fast. I want this over before you bring them home." Sonny explained. Jason had to have faith in Sonny, but it was hard with the wedge between them, still he knew him well enough to know that he could handle the problem. "This will all be over tonight." he promised him.

"I hope you're right." Jason leaned back against the wall, dipping his head low, closing his eyes in a silent prayer that he was.

"I'll keep you up to date and I want you to let me know when Kristina gets there, let me know how she is."

"Alright." Jason replied evenly. He was already ready to get back in with Sam, was worried that she would wake without him at her side. "I'll let you know." He promised him.

They got through their strained goodbyes and Jason started towards the room, only to see Dante headed in his direction from the other side of the hallway. They must have gotten an early start. They met up in the hallway, still keeping away from the prying ears of the Interpol agents.

"They're checking them out right now. How's Sam?" Dante asked quickly in concern.

"She's stable. They're going to have to operate on her hand, but she's holding her own. They're waiting on some test results. Any change with the other girls? How are they handling it?" Jason expressed his own worry. It had been hard to take the moment to let everything that had happened sink in last night amidst the inertia of the situation.

"Not much, Lulu seems to be coping the best, but even she could barely sleep. Nightmares. Kristina still isn't talking and Leila hasn't stopped talking."

"So you still don't know what happened?" Jason knew that Dante had watched the video the moment he asked the question. Dante's features gave it all away.

"I know enough." Dante met Jason's eyes and swallowed tightly. "The guys didn't come to take them back in to sell. They were making a video for other captive in the future. A sort of why escaping isn't an option thing. They asked for volunteers to die first. Of course no one stepped up and it was pretty obvious they were about to pick Kristina. Sam went nuts, they carried her off upstairs and then Talia stepped forward." Dante felt sick again as he recanted the tale.

His eyes bore tears of the horrors that they'd witnessed. "They said they'd give her a chance. Tossed a gun near her on the floor. They weren't giving her chance, they took pot shots every time she tried to get it. Finally they got tired and just dropped her. Right there in front of all of them." Dante wiped a stray tear away, sniffing another wave back. "Lulu was next, they were about to carve her up, but you got there first." Dante struggled to find the words as Jason felt a desire to kill these guys over again. "I don't know what I would have done if..."

Jason cut Dante off there.

"You don't need to think about that, right now. Kristina and Lulu are alright. At least you know what happened. Maybe it will help getting through to Kristina." Jason knew that rehashing what could have been wasn't going to do any of them any good. "I take it Lucky stayed with the girls?" Now it was Jason's turn to be the bearer of bad news.

"Yeah. He's keeping an eye on them with a handful of Interpol agents." Dante nodded.

"I might as well tell you this now. Castillo hit one of Sonny's warehouses. Ethan was there. Sonny said he's in critical condition but that they're hopeful."

Dante closed his eyes and gave a shake of his head. Lucky wasn't going to take that well. He'd pushed Ethan to Sonny to give him something to do. "I'll break it to Lucky." He finally let out an exhausted sigh. "Is everyone else alright?"

"No...Sonny lost eight guys, he didn't name names, but it's not good." Jason hope that for once Dante could put his family first and not offer any sort of monologue on how he hoped Sonny would let the law take care of it all. "I don't know much more. Sonny does want an update about Kristina and Lulu though."

"I can take care of that." Dante gave another nod and Jason sighed in relief. That freed him up to take care of Sam.

"Well you know where to find me if you need anything. Thanks Man." Jason motioned to Sam's heavily guarded room as though Dante wouldn't have been able to put two and two together.

"Nah – yeah. I have to get back to Lulu and Krissy too." he replied in understanding. "I should be the one thanking you."

They acknowledged their gratitude with a quiet look before they excused themselves – heading to their prospective loved ones sides.

Jason was almost inside the door when he spotted the doctor heading in his direction, so once again he paused. He was teetering between frustration and a desperate need for good news. The man was a few years older than Jason with with balding hair and thick set a glasses riding low on his nose. He offered his hand to Jason and reminded him of their meeting the night before. "I'm Dr. Harris. We spoke last night."

"I remember... Jason." Jason offered his own name so that they weren't struggling with how to address each other should the good doctor not remember.

"We've gotten your fiance's test results in." That was the white lie that had gotten him past the family only rule of the unfamiliar hospital. It was already a desire, felt right hearing it. So right. "We've got a few concerns." Jason frowned in worry, not liking the sound of that.

"Wh...what sort of concerns?"

"I'm not sure either of you were aware. It's still early and I know you didn't ask last night, but Ms. McCall is currently 7 weeks pregnant." Jason starred back in shock. Pregnancy for Sam was a long shot at best and even then...

"Are you sure?" Jason's voice broke, his eyes tearing up. Maybe they'd made a mistake. God he was scared to think...hope...

"We ran the test twice. This of course make the decision about surgery a little more tricky." Jason had to take the support of a nearby chair, slipping into, leaning forward, his hand covering his mouth in shock. "I'd like to do a nerve block and keep her awake for the surgery instead of fully sedating her. It would be better for both mother and baby."

"I..." Jason looked back up as a tear slipped down his cheek. He was having trouble thinking past the shock, floundering to grasp at the hope amidst all this chaos. After everything that had just happened. And Oh God she was pregnant.

"She would feel no pain." The doctor assured him assuming that would be the question he was struggling with. "I wanted to give you a chance to talk it over with her or I can come back and explain it when she's awake. We just need to change the appointment for the surgery so we can prepare to do it differently. The soonest would be tomorrow morning."

Jason nodded slowly. "I...I'll talk to her."

"Okay, but feel free to page me. Are you alright?" he eyed him worriedly.

"Just a little in shock and exhausted." Jason shook it off as best he could. The doctor accepted the answer and offered his congratulations before excusing himself.

Jason set there in the hallway, outside the room, his elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands. Sonny was practically on the thresh hold of war, Sam, Kristina,Lulu, and some other poor soul had nearly died, were all traumatized. The warehouse...explosion...Ethan...and no matter how his mind spun around it all...Jason smiled in tears.

Out of all this insanity and violence somehow a miracle had been hiding in plain sight. And he had one more precious gift to be thankful for.

It was another half an hour before he recovered from the initial bomb of information and returned to Sam's side. She had more color yet the terror from the day before was written in shades of deepening purple and swaths of gauze. He blinked back another wave of tears marveling in the very perfection before him a wounded angel. Jason sank into the seat by her bedside and stretched his hand across the bed. She'd moved in her sleep, her left palm now flush against the think sheet that covered her abdomen. He unfurled his palm, engulfing hers with his own, while resting the both of them over the miracle within.

_It's been a bad day...you've been looking back...and all you see is everything you wish you could take back...all your mistakes...a world of regrets...all of the moments you would rather forget..."_

Dante leaned back against the wall, his hands tucked into his pockets as he heartbreakingly explained to Lucky and Lulu what had befallen Ethan, yet tried to assure them that the prognosis was still hopeful. Lucky held his sister tightly as she cried quietly, while closing his eyes in guilt that he'd sent Ethan to Sonny. He never should have...never...

"_I know it's hard to believe... but let me refresh your memory...yesterday is history...and history is miles away...So leave it all behind you Let it always remind you...of the day that Love made history..." _

Leila stood at the window of her and Kristina's room, looking out, while Kristina sat to her right knees tucked to her chest in the small chair there. Out the window the day promised clear skies and a sunny disposition but they couldn't feel it. Or at least weren't prepared to...

A yellow flutter of wings suddenly beat against the window as a butterfly appeared dancing across the glass. It wasn't the right time of year, the right climate and yet somehow...Leila let out a gasp that got Kristina's attention as the first butterfly was joined by another and another, so many colors and they were dancing and playing. It was like a frolic of color teasing them. Kristina rose to her feet, a watery smile on her lips as she joined Leila at the window, the both of them mesmerized by the sight.

"Before you got there...when it was just me and her...she said she loved butterflies..." Leila whispered out with a smile as a tear fell across her cheek. And in a breath Kristina slowly intertwined her fingers with Leila's, the both of them leaning into the other for comfort. "She said they made her happy..."

_You know you can't stay...right where you fell...The hardest part is forgiving yourself...but lets take a walk into today...and don't let your past get in the way..."_

Sam finally stirred, a wash of warmth against her belly from their combined hands there and she found him there. Looking so relieved, as if one bat of the eyelashes could erase a lifetime of fear. "Hi..." she whispered so softly, reminding him how fragile she could be, despite the fact that he knew she could take care of herself.

"Hi..." He smiled down at her as he drew their joined hands to his lips for a kiss of those tender fingers.

"_Let it always remind you of the day...that Love made history..._

_- _last song_"History" _- by Matthew West


	8. The Miracle

**The Perfect Storm**

Well it turns out that this is the last chapter. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the tale. I'm going to start on the sequel soon, but you can catch a teaser trailer for it at the URL in my profile. Thanks so much for all the reviews. They really help inspire me through all the ups and downs of writing.

**The Miracle**

"Hi…" It was amazing how much hearing that one word could provide the comfort of respite to a weary and wounded heart. Jason brushed a stray wisp of hair from her forehead and leaned over to kiss her there, closing his eyes along the way in prayer of thanks that she was awake, that he had something, something of a miracle to share with her. For the first time in days there was good news.

"Hi." He whispered back finally right next to her ear and then he kissed her there as well, there was a part of him that wanted to kiss her in so many other ways warring with the part of him that wouldn't allow himself to set her back in lieu of celebrating.

For what seemed an eternity they simply basked in the warmth of each others love, holding, watching, and mingling with soft kisses and fragile hugs. The spell was broken when Sam, in the moment, raised her wounded hand in an effort to draw Jason closer and let out a wince in pain against Jason's lips.

"I'm sorry." Jason's tone was heavy with guilt as he pulled away, but not so far. "Are you…are you okay?"

"It was my fault, I forgot I was shot." Sam smirked, the smile alone letting him know that she was. She softly dragged her left thumb down his lips. "With kisses like those you can make me forget all kinds of things."

Jason smiled sadly wishing he could erase the last few days and Sam's own smile dwindled as the thought of remembering kindled the nightmare images of the cabin and cages in between.

"I'll help anyway I can," he promised her steering her mind from the tragedy by reengaging in her playful banter. She met his eyes, her smile returning, albeit wavering. Soon though that was lost as her eyes widened and her muddled mind realized that she couldn't remember getting the girls out of the cabin, she could barely remember seeing Jason at the end of the hallway.

"Jason," Sam sat up in alarm and he saw the panic setting in, in her eyes. "Are the other girl's alright?"

"Whoa, whoa." Jason was quick to get to his feet, steadying her as he gently pushed her back against the pillow and the angled bed, trying to keep her from hurting herself. "Kristina and Lulu are fine. Dante brought them in with Leila and she's okay too." Jason licked at his lips nervously, knowing that she was about to ask about Talia. Sam wasn't going to miss that he hadn't mentioned her.

"What about Talia?" Jason hitched a breath in and looked away, just a flash, just long enough for Sam to see the sadness that settled into his features.

"She didn't make it." It came out as a raw whisper. And Jason hated how much he'd been relieved when he'd found out that it was Talia lying there and not Sam, especially now as he watched her face crumble, tears instantly dotting those pained eyes. And in a whisper of a moment Jason wrapped her in his arms, feeling the soft sobs meet his chest. "I'm so sorry."

He held her, letting her cry until the tears gave out and she finally pulled back. "Did you kill them?"

Jason swallowed. This wasn't a part of his job they discussed intimately, not at length anyway. "All of them." He promised her and while it wasn't much to offer in the way of solace Sam nodded wiping at the tears with her good hand.

"Did they suffer?" She was on the verge of another wave of tears.

"Sam," Jason closed his eyes. He knew she was reeling from rage and grief and while he wanted to give her what she needed he didn't think it was the image of these men dying.

"Did they?" She wouldn't let him spare her.

"I think so..." It was the best he could give her. He'd shot to kill and they went down fast, no matter how much he wanted to make it last especially the one who had been with her. She gave another nod choked back with tears and Jason put a supportive hand on her shoulder. His heart was splintering watching her pain.

"But everyone else is alright?" Sam pressed as if looking for any good news that she could get now.

"They are." Jason didn't want to worry her about Kristina's not talking to anyone yet and he was praying that she came out of it on her own or that the others could help her for the moment because Sam was in no shape. Jason felt the bittersweet tug of desire to share with her her condition, praying that it helped ease her grief coupled with the selfish longing to celebrate the miracle with her.

Jason eased himself back into the seat at her bedside and took her hand in his kissing it softly once more. "There's something we need to talk about."

"I hope it's good news, cause I'm already so numb from everything else..."Sam whispered.

"A little of both." he couldn't help but smile, the tiniest of smiles, but a smile. "You need surgery..."

"I thought you said good news." Sam scoffed.

"Let me finish." He gave her a mock look of warning. "That was the little bit of both part. I'm getting to the good, the great, it's really more awesome..."

"So many adjectives at once, don't strain yourself."

"They've had to postpone the surgery til in the morning. They're going to keep you awake with something called a nerve block, but you won't feel any pain." Jason explained a small feat that he remembered considering all his mind was dealing with at the time was...baby.

"Okay," Sam narrowed her eyes in confusion wondering where this news turned good.

"They're doing all this because..." Jason met her eyes, his smile growing as tears of brimmed. "It's best for you and the baby." Jason knew that Sam hadn't known she was pregnant. If she had known then she wouldn't have been so gung-ho to put herself at risk. Slowly he watched as the shock in her eyes mingled with tears and she was searching his eyes as if praying this wasn't some sort of cruel joke being played out by the gods.

"Are you..."

"You're pregnant, Sam." Jason kissed her hand once more.

"You're sure?" tears spilled over her cheeks, her hand tightening in his.

"They ran the test twice." Jason reassured her.

Sam drew her gauze clad hand to hover over her mouth as she floundered in an emotional whirlwind drawn from the most amazing joy and yet tainted by the past 72 hours only marginally. For the second time Jason drew her into his arms this time as she wept with joy.

They pulled back, the both of them smiling, tears still fresh, brimmed and then instantly they reconnected - his lips meeting hers in a soft caress that soon grew more passionate as the whirlwind of the moment swept them both up. When they finally broke, they were both panting, tasting each others hot breath between them.

"It's just so much..."

"It's a miracle." Jason corrected her. Her smile grew at that and he swore that he would remember this moment forever. Out of all the things he prayed he could forget, prayed he could wipe from the minds of all those involved in the last 72 hours, this one moment he wanted.

"Is the baby alright?" Sam paused a moment looking down the length of her body as she disentangled her hand from Jason's and ran her fingers over her flat belly. Jason joined her, placing his hand over hers.

"The baby's perfect." He promised her. "And so are you." Jason smoothed her hair back from her face once more and leaned in for a shorter kiss, unable to squash his desire to be closer to her. As much as he wanted this moment to last his smile began to dwindle a bit when he saw what all this news and the emotional roller coaster was taken out of her. Sam was fighting to keep her eyes open.

"I love you so much," Sam whispered, flexing her fingers against his palm and her belly.

"I love you, too." Jason watched as she fought sleep with a fluttering of her eyes and he kissed her lightly once more. "Rest now..."

**ZZZZZZZZZZ**

The surgery went off without a hitch, though Sam had to stay for another day before Jason could take her home. The other girls, however, were released the following afternoon. Dante and Lucky were already set to take them home but they couldn't leave without seeing Sam.

Sam heard the knock and looked up from the baby names book that Jason had picked up from the gift shop while she was in surgery.

"Come in." She called. Jason roused from a half doze in the chair at her side and looked to the door wearily – ready to tackle any problems should they arise.

The door opened to reveal Lulu, Kristina, and Leila, followed swiftly by Dante and Lucky. The girls moved in a gentle swam to Sam's bedside and Jason felt sweet relief when Kristina hugged her sister up with a bright smile. "Dante, just told us!" She exclaimed and there were so many smiles, something that he hadn't thought he'd seen in a while from this bunch.

Dante stuffed his hands in his pocket and hung back near the door, looking over the group as they shared their excitement a half smile growing that they could be in such an innocent place after everything that had been through. Lucky was just as enamored by the sight.

It was like a breath of life, the promise that they would heal and become stronger for it all.

"_I will be the answer...at the end of the line...I will be there for you...while you take the time...in the burning of uncertainty...I will be your solid ground...and I will hold the balance...if you can't look down..."_

Talia Marrow didn't have family at least not any that the authorities could find, so in the end it was the girls who had suffered through with her til she drew her last breath who took her ashes home with them. They gave her a place in their lives, in their hearts, and in their memories that while bitter in so many ways, still celebrated the person that she was...the person that she could have been.

Lulu Spencer carried the urn, walking through the rain and the comfort of Dante's umbrella. He opened the door for her but she paused before she entered looking back just long enough to see a lone yellow butterfly, waving it's goodbye to her.

"_If it takes my whole life...I won't break and I won't bend...will all be worth it...worth it in the end...and I can only tell you what I know...that I need you in my life...and when the stars have all gone out...you'll still be burning so bright..." _

Sam woke from a dream, haunting and soulful, she adjusted herself on the couch of Jason's penthouse and looked down to her still bandaged hand, flexing her fingers with a slight wince before she noticed the strangest sight. Sam couldn't help but let out a giggle. She heard Jason's feet on the stairs and gave a soft whisper to draw him close. "Jason, quick..."

He rushed in worriedly and then stopped short when he looked to what she was motioning to. There resting on her belly was pink butterfly, slowly opening and closing it's wings.

"_Cast me gently into morning...for the night has been unkind...take me to a place so holy that I can wash this from my mind...the memory of choosing not to fight."_

In the heart of the night Fernando Castillo rested on his knees starring down the barrel of Sonny's 9 mm. It was over in a heartbeat, one lone shot to appease justice for those that had suffered at his hands.

"_If it takes my whole life...I won't break, I won't bend...It will all be worth it...be worth it in the end..."_

Last song "Answer" by Sarah McLachlan

fin


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